SpaceX, Boeing to carry out human spaceflights in mid-2019

It's worth noting that unmanned test missions will precede the planned human spaceflights.

SpaceX's first test flight - Demo 1 - using its Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for December 2018, but the launch is expected to take place in January owing to limited docking space on the ISS.

Meanwhile, Boeing's is targeting March 2019 for its Orbital Test Flight using its CST-100 Starliner.

In 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts by NASA worth a total of $6.8bn to develop spacecraft capable of transporting crews to the International Space Station (ISS).

Since then, both companies have made significant strides in the development of a new generation of crew transport spacecraft in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

However, both companies saw their launches postponed several times.

Now, however, NASA has promised monthly updates on the aforementioned launch deadlines.

The launches are significant for the US, which currently uses Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the ISS.

That contract, however, is set to expire in 2019, and self-reliance in space is something the US is hoping to achieve using SpaceX and Boeing's new spacecraft.

Anticipating SpaceX and Boeing's success, NASA, in August, had announced the names of nine astronauts, including Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, for its first manned spaceflight since 2011.

"For the first time since 2011, we are on the brink of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine had said back then.