Elon Musk's space company Space X can send people from the United States to the ISS space station in the first quarter of next year.

This is what NASA chief Jim Bridenstine says during a visit to the company's headquarters, with the assurance that "everything is going according to plan" in the upcoming tests.

The collaboration with NASA will be the first time Space X has attempted a manned spaceflight and the first time NASA has sent astronauts from the United States to the ISS since 2011. Since then, the space agency has paid to travel to the station on Russian spacecraft.

Elon Musk and NASA chief Jim Bridenstine have previously argued publicly over the project - Bridenstine has complained via Twitter that Musk's construction of the space capsule has been taking too long.

Musk then blamed NASA and the agency's lengthy safety tests.

Musk and Bridenstine said during the visit that they are working on technical challenges, such as getting the capsule's parachutes used during reentry to work properly.

Source: TT