End of June Update

Chronological list of upcoming manned flights with announced dates is:

7/20/21    US - New Shepard with 4 people

9/15/21    US - Crew Dragon Inspiration4 with 4 people

10/5/21    Russia - Soyuz MS-19 with 3 people

10/31/21   US - Crew Dragon CREW3 with 4 people

12/8/21    Russia - Soyuz MS-20 with 3 people

For the 5 spacecraft from the United States:

Crew Dragon - The launch of the CREW3 mission has been delayed a week until Oct 31. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Dragon is 12.

Starliner - only change is that Boeing is no ruling out a crewed test flight before the end of 2021. The uncrewed test flight is still scheduled for July 30. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Starliner is 0.

Orion - no change. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Orion is 0.

SpaceShip - There is talk that Richard Branson might try to fly on the next mission during the Fourth of July holiday, so that he can beat Jeff Bezos into space, but there is no announced flight date. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on SpaceShip is 8.

New Shepard - The crew for the inaugural July 20th manned flight has been reduced from 6 to 4. It will include Jeff Bezos, his younger brother, Mark, Wally Funk, the lady that was one of the unofficial Mercury 13 female astronauts and finally the winner at $28 million of the auctioned seat. Funk at age 83 will be the older person to fly into space, beating John Glenn's record of 77 when he flew in 1998 on the Shuttle. 120,000 people have signed a petition that if Bezos goes into space, he should not return to Earth. These people are uninformed because it is a sub-orbital mission. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on New Shepard is 4, a decrease of 2 due to the smaller crew on the first mission.

For Russia - no change. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Soyuz is 9.

For China - on June 16 the Shenzhou 12 capsule launched into space with a crew of 3. It successfully docked with the new Chinese space station for a 3 month stay. Shenzhou 12 brings the total to 12 for people going into space for 2021. Shenzhou 13, with another crew of 3, is planned for October 2021. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Shenzhou is 6.

For India - no change. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Gaganyaan is 0.

My current estimate for 2021 is now down to 39 and decrease of 2 since the last estimate. The decrease is due to only 4 people flying on the first manned New Shepard capsule, not the full compliment of 6.