NASA issues SpaceX with first spaceflight order

NASA has just made its first SpaceX order, getting the company to send American astronauts into orbit. Boeing had already received a similar order from the space agency in May, but it's not yet clear which company will be launching first. 

The orders have been made under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which was formed to develop safe, reliable, and cost-efective space transportation capability in the US, with access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. NASA is hoping to, in this way, develop commercial space transportation that lives up to its own standards, making future space missions commonplace.

Boeing will launch astronauts aboard its  Boeing CST-100 Starliner​, while SpaceX will be using the Crew Dragon spacecraft for its manned missions. Astronauts Doug Hurley, Sunita Williams, Bob Behnken, and Mike Good have been training to fly commercial spacecrafts, and NASA will eventually decide which mission each of them will be a part of.