France, May 24 -- The United States space agency NASA has announced that two astronauts will take off next week on board a private SpaceX vessel, the first crewed space flight to leave from US soil in nine years.

Space X founder Elon Musk has been meeting with top officials at the US space agency since Thursday ahead of the 27 May mission which comes after years of preparation and planning.

The space vehicule known as Crew Dragon, will be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket carrying US astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station where an American and two Russians are already based.

US President Donald Trump will be among the spectators at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to witness the launch at 4:33 pm loc...