SpaceX completed a static fire engine test today. It began with two burns for a duration of one-second each for two of Crew Dragon’s 16 Draco thrusters. These thrusters are part of the In-Flight Abort system, which will ignite and carry the capsule away to safety. The capsule also has its own parachutes for landing.

If all the tests come back successful, SpaceX is then close to flying humans on the Crew Dragon for the first time next year. The next big test Crew Dragon will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shortly after liftoff, the capsule will fire up its SuperDraco escape thrusters, which will send the Crew Dragon a considerable distance away from the rocket. Elon Musk tweeted in October, “All hardware is at the Cape. Need to do static fire and reconfigure for flight. Launch probably late Nov / early Dec. ” I will be out on the space coast to witness this event.