Cape Canaveral: For the first time since 2011 America is sending its pilots into space from home soil.
The astronauts are set to make history becoming the first passengers that SpaceX has ever launched into space.
The two astronauts who will test drive SpaceX's brand new rocketship are classmates and friends, veteran space fliers married to veteran space fliers, and fathers of young sons.
Together, they will end a nine-year drought for NASA when they blast into orbit next week from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
Retired Marine Col. Doug Hurley will be in charge of launch and landing, a fitting assignment for the pilot of NASA's last space shuttle flight.
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Air Force Col. Bob Behnken, a mechanical engineer with six spacewalks on his resume, will oversee rendezvous and docking at the International Space Station.
Their flight will mark the return of astronaut launches to the US, the first by a private company.
While SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule and its escape system have already been demonstrated in flight with mannequins, there are no guarantees.
In spaceflight, there never are.
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Hurley and Behnken are both two-time space shuttle fliers. They were among four astronauts chosen in 2015 for NASA's commercial crew program. At the time, Behnken was serving as chief of NASA's astronaut corps and the only way to and from the space station was on Russian rockets.
Only three countries have launched people into orbit since 1961: Russia, the US and China, in that order. SpaceX would be the first company.
SpaceX successfully conducted its first test flight of a Dragon crew capsule a year ago, sending the capsule - minus a crew - to the space station.
The returned capsule was accidentally destroyed during ground testing at Cape Canaveral, further delaying the astronaut launch.
SpaceX has been using Falcon 9 rockets to launch cargo to the space station in the company's original Dragon capsules since 2012.
NASA turned to private companies for deliveries once the shuttle program ended.
Boeing also is working to launch astronauts under NASA's commercial crew program, but the company's effort suffered a serious setback following last December's botched test flight.
Launching without anyone on board, Boeing's Starliner capsule failed to reach the space station, after ending up in the wrong orbit and came close to destruction twice because of software errors.
Boeing plans to repeat the test flight, again without astronauts, this fall.
SpaceX was founded in 2002. In 2012, it made history when its Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the ISS.
(AP)
