End of May Update

For the 5 spacecraft from the United States:

Crew Dragon - CREW2 launched to the ISS on April 23 with 4 people, raising the 2021 count for people launched into space to 7. SpaceX is scheduled to launch the private Inspiration4 mission on September 15 and the CREW3 to the ISS on October 23. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Dragon is a firm 12.

Starliner - The unmanned test mission to the ISS is scheduled for July 30. Review of the data from that flight is anticipated to take 6 months. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Starliner is 0.

Orion - Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Orion is 0.

SpaceShip - Virgin Galactic flew a 17 minute test flight with 2 pilots to a height of 89km (55mi) on May 22, raising the 2021 count to 9. They say there will be 3 more test flights before beginning commercial operation. The next flight will be with 4 VG employees and 2 pilots, the next flight is with Richard Branson himself and the last test flight will be with 2 Italian Air Force persons. No dates have been announced for the test flights. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on SpaceShip is 8, an increase of 2.

New Shepard - The auction for the one of the seats on New Shepard's first flight is up to $3 million. The winner of the auction will join 5 other Blue Origin employees in the capsule. The inaugural flight is scheduled for July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on New Shepard is 6, an increase of 4.

Russia - has announced the crews for their 2 upcoming tourist Soyuz missions. In October, a Russian actress and her director will join a cosmonaut and in December, Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, and his production assistant will join a cosmonaut. Maezawa has already purchased the flight of SpaceX's Dear Moon mission, that will loop around the moon on a Starship with a crew of 8 people. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Soyuz is 9, an increase of 3.

China - has launched the first module of their new space station and then launched a cargo mission that successfully docked with the module. They said they will launch a crew of 3 to the station in June. Anticipated people to fly to space in 2021 on Shenzhou is 6.

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

My current estimate for 2021 is now up to 41 and increase of 9 since the last estimate. The increase is due to, 2 more on SpaceShip, (now 8), 4 more on New Shepard, (now 6) and 3 more on Soyuz, (now 9).