Bad news program , space fans . NASAhas confirmedthat the first launch from US grunge since 2011 have been delayed until summer 2019 .

The widely expected delay was announced in a instruction from NASA , which said that coming trial launch from SpaceX and Boeing would be pushed back . These two company are developing crewed spacecraft for NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Program .

The delay will mean SpaceX ’s first uncrewed test flight of its Crew Dragon spacecraft will be stay from December 2018 to January 2019 . A crewed escape is carry in June 2019 , pushed back from April 2019,SpaceNewsnoted .

As for Boeing , they are targeting an initial uncrewed trial flight of steps of their Starliner fomite in March 2019 , with a crew flying to follow later in August 2019 . They originally planned for an uncrewed test flight in late 2018 or former 2019 , and a crewed flight of steps in mid-2019 .

“ [ L]aunch dates will still have some uncertainty , and we anticipate they may transfer as we get closer to launch , ” Phil McAlister , managing director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters , said in astatement . “ These are young space vehicle , and the engineering teams have a lot of work to do before the systems will be ready to fell . ”

The spacecraft will be plunge from Cape Canaveral in Florida to the International Space Station ( ISS ) , which NASA mark was one of the reasons for the hold . They enjoin SpaceX ’s later launching in January would “ accommodate docking opportunities at the orbiting testing ground . ”

Much has been made of the het wash to launch US astronauts back into blank space since the Space Shuttle was crawl in in 2011 . A recent probe byArs Technicafound that a spot military campaign had been engage against SpaceX , while there has also been no love lost between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg .

Earlier this twelvemonth Muilenburgclaimedthat Boeing would beat SpaceX in sending people to Mars . Musk responded onTwitter : “ Do it . ”

NASA has been eager to take up launching US spaceman again preferably rather than later , as their contract bridge with Russia to launch astronaut on the Soyuz capsuleexpires in 2019 . A report to begin with this yr allege that further delay to SpaceX and Boeing ’s launches could leave NASAwith a gapin access to the International Space Station ( ISS ) .

Still , safety is paramount for these initial launches . If anything were to go wrong it could set crew launch back even further , so all tangled will need to ensure the ballistic capsule have passed every examination with flying colors . Even if that mean waiting just that picayune morsel longer .