First unmanned orbital test of SpaceX ship designed to carry crew could be only weeks away

HOUSTON – We could be only weeks away from the first major test of a private spaceship designed to take American astronauts back to space on an American rocket from American soil.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted that we are about a month away from the first unmanned orbital test of the SpaceX crew Dragon. Both SpaceX and Boeing are building spaceships to carry our astronauts to the International Space Station.

Since the retirement of the space shuttle nearly eight years ago, NASA has bought expensive rides on Russian rockets. 

No official launch date has been set from NASA, as most of the space agency workers are on furlough right now.