NASA and SpaceX to launch astronauts into orbit this week on Crew Dragon spacecraft: the countdown is on!

This week, astronauts will take off from American soil for the first time since 2011, riding aboard a SpaceX capsule in a historic test flight to the International Space Station.

On Wednesday (May 27) at 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT), veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will launch as co-commanders on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which will lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, known as Demo-2, will fly the astronauts to the International Space Station. They are scheduled to arrive at the space station on May 28 and could stay in space anywhere from one to four months.

Demo-2 will be the first crewed launch to orbit from American soil since NASA’s shuttle program ended in 2011. In fact, Hurley was on the crew for both that final shuttle mission (STS-135) and the upcoming mission. The astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center on May 20, a week ahead of the launch, and have been preparing diligently for their ride to space. “We are on the cusp of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil yet again,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said May 20 after Hurley and Behnken arrived at Kennedy. “You really are a bright light for all of America right now. Thank you so much for all you’ve done and all you’re about to do.”