SpaceX won formal NASA approval to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, reaching a milestone for a commercial space vehicle three months after completing a crewed test mission.
The certification enables SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to begin regular crew rotations to the orbiting lab, with the next flight planned for Nov. 14 with four astronauts. NASA granted final approval after a two-day flight readiness review that concluded Tuesday, making the SpaceX vehicles the first that the U.S. agency has rated for humans since the Space Shuttle.
