SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the company's plan to send crews on space flights will not happen as targeted in 2017. This delay is being attributed to the on-pad explosion of Falcon 9 in September last year. The planned crewed missions of the Dragon spacecraft will be moved possibly in 2018 the earliest or even to a much later date.

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In a report by Popularmechanics, SpaceX has targeted to bring humans into orbit apart from its current service of bringing cargo, supplies and materials to the International Space Station (ISS). One of its prime goals is to send manned missions to the red planet Mars. However, the rocket explosion, which the company pointed to a broken helium tank sent questionable signals to NASA of the space company's capability.

Prepping to fly again — recovered CRS-8 first stage completed a static fire test at our McGregor, TX rocket development facility last week. pic.twitter.com/QEtKVJ1Jhc

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 1, 2017

A report of the NewsChannel5 added that NASA is very much aware and even accepted this delay in sending crews to space. There was a pronouncement that NASA will have to wait longer for SpaceX and Boeing to perfect the engineering and technology requirements. While the government space administration wants to fast track manned missions, it could not just risks the lives of the crews.

It was revealed in reports that Boeing and SpaceX will have to work hard to meet government requirements. For instance, the parachute for the Starliner's capsule have to be fixed. Meanwhile, SpaceX will have to work on the engines of the rockets to address the defects. Additionally, the space company still has to do some redesigning and re-engineering works on the pumps.

In the meantime, NASA's astronauts have no other choice but have to continue their expensive hitch rides on the Russian rockets until 2019. For more updates on SpaceX crewed space flights, stay tuned to Telegiz.