The Next Big Milestone in American Spaceflight

In 2019, American astronauts were supposed to once again leave Earth from home turf.

At the beginning of this year, NASA officials felt nearly sure that at least one of the private companies hired to help fly astronauts into space would succeed. American crews regularly fly back and forth to the International Space Station, but they don’t get there on American vehicles, nor do they leave from Cape Canaveral, in Florida. Astronauts blast off in Russian vehicles, sitting shoulder to shoulder with cosmonauts, from the deserts of Kazakhstan. This year, a program known as Commercial Crew was supposed to change that, by launching NASA astronauts from an American space port, on rockets built and flown by an American company.

With only a few weeks left in the year, that’s not going to happen.

Commercial Crew has experienced, over the years, funding, technical , safety —including one fiery explosion—and other delays. The effort, as is the case with most spaceflight projects, fell behind schedule. NASA astronauts, who have already been selected and trained, will have to wait until next year to lift off from Florida.