Nasa has approved SpaceX’s approach to Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 v.1.1 rocket, to fly its crews to and from the International Space Station.
As part of the certification baseline review, the company outlined how it will develop Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon rocket, then launch, fly, land and recover the crew.
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The company also explained the procedure it will follow to receive Nasa certification for its system, Nasa said.
Nasa commercial crew programme manager Kathy Lueders said: "This milestone sets the pace for the rigorous work ahead as SpaceX meets the certification requirements outlined in our contract."
SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell said: "SpaceX designed the Dragon spacecraft with the ultimate goal of transporting people to space.
"Successful completion of the certification baseline review represents a critical step in that effort, we applaud our team’s hard work to date and look forward to helping Nasa return the transport of US astronauts to American soil."
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By GlobalDataIn September, Nasa awarded commercial crew transportation capability contracts to Boeing and SpaceX, to develop CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft respectively.
The planned missions are said to end the US dependency on Russia, as well as support more research on-board the microgravity laboratory.
Boeing and SpaceX will soon perform a crewed flight test, to verify the rocket and spacecraft capabilities to manoeuvre in orbit and dock to the space station as expected.
SpaceX will work on its systems, materials and concept of operations for certification, when the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket will then be integrated inside a new hangar at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
