With multiple delays, it seemed like Elon Musk's SpaceX crew may never make it off the face of the planet. But after a successful crew escape test, it looks like they'll be launching into orbit any time soon.
And Musk has suggested that the first crewed mission could be as soon as April or May. Speaking at a conference, he said he was "highly confident" that the technology needed to launch his crew would be ready in the first quarter of the month, maybe even as soon as February.
Astronauts would then launch in the second quarter of the year.
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It might not be worth getting too excited just yet, though. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has said there may have to be extra training for the astronauts to "be actually prepared to do things on the ISS that we weren't planning to have that initial test crew necessarily do".
"We've got to look at that and make a determination."
But with NASA paying over three billion dollars for the SpaceX contract, all eyes will be on the company. Let's just hope its infrastructure doesn't go the same way as Elon Musk's 'indestructible' car...
