(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. has delayed initial missions to return astronauts to space for NASA, including the first flight of a rocket that will carry a crew on board.
The company is now targeting August 2019 for an uncrewed test mission in which its CST-100 Starliner capsule will launch atop an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, Boeing's venture with Lockheed Martin Corp. The flight was initially scheduled for April, and the new target is still to be confirmed.
Boeing then plans a test mission with a crew of astronauts in late 2019, according to an update posted on NASA's website Wednesday. The company had previously been targeting the middle of this year for that flight.
Rival Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched an unmanned Crew Dragon craft from Florida to the International Space Station early last month. The closely held company run by Elon Musk is reevaluating its next target dates with NASA in the coming weeks, the agency said.
Read more on Boeing and SpaceX's ambitions to fly astronauts
--With assistance from Dana Hull and Justin Bachman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Johnsson in Chicago at jjohnsson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, ;Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Tony Robinson
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