It seems like humans really are going to launch into orbit from America again

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  Here's your Demo-2 crew: Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken. [credit: NASA ]

Officials from NASA and SpaceX spoke at a series of briefings on Friday to preview the upcoming flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the discussions was, after nine years since the space shuttle's retirement, how very close astronauts really are to launching from Florida again into orbit. So far, everything remains on track for a May 27 launch to the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 rocket.

As the briefings were taking place, in fact, SpaceX conducted its 27th and final test of Crew Dragon's Mark 3 parachute system. This successful test essentially closes out the last major technical hurdle standing between the spacecraft and launch.

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