NASA to launch US's first crewed spaceflight in almost a decade on May 27

NASA announced on Friday that a SpaceX rocket will send two US astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, which will be America's first crewed spaceflight in almost a decade. 

"On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!," Jim Bridenstine, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in a tweet, said. 

The US has been using Russian Soyuz rockets to send astronauts to the ISS since July 2011. 

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Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the US space agency is sticking to its original plan to launch the crewed mission in May. 

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk has built the Falcon 9 rocket that will be used for the mission. The organisation's Crew Dragon spacecraft will also be used by Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, who are training for years for this mission, to fly to the ISS. 

They will lift off at 4:32 pm (2032 GMT) on May 27 from historic launch pad 39A, the one used for the Apollo and space shuttle missions, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said.

The success of this mission will move the US's reliance on Russia for crewed flights. 

(With AFP inputs)