TIME

NASA has a new way to fly

How private companies are modernizing the space program
A test of the Dragon spacecraft’s landing engines, which could be used in lieu of parachutes

IF YOU’RE LIKE MOST PEOPLE, YOU PROBABLY don’t remember the last time the U.S. stopped flying people to space. But it was in July 1975 that the last Apollo flew, 1981 when the first shuttle took its place, and today America is on track to beat that flightless streak. No astronauts have taken off from Cape Canaveral or anywhere else on U.S.

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