Representative Image.
NASA and SpaceX are about to launch a rocket that could mark the future of American spaceflight.
The two organisations will team up to blast the Crew Dragon spacecraft, on the top of a Falcon 9 rocket, as part of a major test.
Together, the two crafts could represent the future of missions carrying American astronauts.
As part of the preparation, the space agency will first shoot out a test flight on January 7.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon can seat three astronauts, but will be unpiloted for its first test flight which will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It will undergo an in-flight abort test sometime before its first crewed flight in June, Cnet reported.
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be the first two astronauts to test the commercial spaceflight.
The flight aims to provide NASA with performance data from the SpaceX spacecraft and also help the agency certify if transportation system is ready for taking astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station.
