--- description: Elon Musk’s SpaceX will fly American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27. title: NASA Announces Date for First Crewed American Space Launch in Nearly a Decade image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b3fc8683a0ba59/698a0d0e929fad46dbbf602f/return-to-flight.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # NASA Announces Date for the First Crewed American Space Launch in Nearly a Decade by [Dana Hull / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Dana Hull / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2020 5:36 PM CUT  After a one day launch delay due to weather, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the Dragon spacecraft on the 18th resupply mission by SpaceX to the International Space Station on July 25, 2019 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After a one day launch delay due to weather, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the Dragon spacecraft on the 18th resupply mission by SpaceX to the International Space Station on July 25, 2019 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.Paul Hennessy — NurPhoto via Getty Images by [Dana Hull / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Dana Hull / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 17, 2020 5:36 PM CUT (Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s SpaceX will fly American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Jim Bridenstine, setting an official launch date for the mission. The launch, which Bridenstine announced in a tweet on Friday, will mark the first for NASA astronauts from American soil to the orbiting lab since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011\. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the first to fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of what’s known as the Demo-2 mission. Musk, the chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded the company in 2002 with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets, but the company has never flown humans before. The [historic flight](https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2020/04/17/launch-date-set-for-first-crew-flight-from-u-s-soil-since-2011/ "undefined"), from launch complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is the final test for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft to be certified by the space agency to conduct regular flights to the station with crew on board. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5823461/return-to-flight-date/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5823461/return-to-flight-date/"},"headline":"NASA Announces Date for the First Crewed American Space Launch in Nearly a Decade","datePublished":"2020-04-17T17:36:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:37:51.976Z","description":"Elon Musk’s SpaceX will fly American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, NASA says","url":"https://time.com/5823461/return-to-flight-date/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b3fc8683a0ba59/698a0d0e929fad46dbbf602f/return-to-flight.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dana Hull / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b3fc8683a0ba59/698a0d0e929fad46dbbf602f/return-to-flight.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Return to Flight Date","caption":"Return to Flight Date","creditText":"Paul Hennessy — NurPhoto via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5823461/return-to-flight-date/","name":"NASA Announces Date for the First Crewed American Space Launch in Nearly a Decade"}}]}] ```