NASA announces crews for the first flights of SpaceX and Boeing’s passenger spacecraft

NASA has announced the crew assignments for the first major flights of SpaceX and Boeing’s Commercial Crew spacecraft — the vehicles that the companies are designing to take NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

These crews will be the first passengers to ride on the company’s vehicles, testing to see if the spacecraft are ready to do regular trips to the ISS. The first test flights are scheduled for 2019, with the first operational missions taking place at some unknown date afterward, Space.com reports.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will be the first crew members to travel aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, an upgraded version of the company’s Dragon cargo capsule that’s meant to ride to space on top of the Falcon 9 rocket. They’ll be on the first test flight of the vehicle, a crucial trip that NASA will use to certify the Crew Dragon for future human missions. Once certified, the first operational mission of Crew Dragon will include NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins.