SpaceX: First private spacecraft set to dock with ISS

NASA and SpaceX have "technically" agreed the California-based firm's first date with the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 30 November then rendezvous and dock with the ISS on 7 December, nearly one year after its first test flight.

The original plan was to rendezvous and dock on separate attempts, but following the successful test flight SpaceX asked NASA to combine the two missions.

"We technically have agreed with SpaceX that we want to combine those flights," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations.

"We are doing all the planning to go ahead and have those missions combined, but we haven't given them formal approval yet" he says.

Though the shuttle is permanently grounded the ISS still needs regular resupply.

Many see private space flight as the way forward, but even if the Dragon mission is successful US astronauts will still be reliant on lifts from the Russian Soyuz craft until the private vehicle is human-rated by NASA.

SpaceX doesn't expect this to be a problem though, as earlier this year it claimed that "astronauts flying on Dragon will be considerably safer" than those on the shuttle.