In the race to become the first private company to carry humans into space, it looks like SpaceX's lead has solidified. According to Geekwire, Boeing will not be able to launch its CST-100 Starliner vessel with astronauts onboard until 2018.

Since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, American astronauts have been hitching a ride with Russia to the space station. That's adding up to be quite expensive--about $70 million per seat, and rising. Meanwhile, NASA is investing in private companies that it hopes will bring human-rated launch capabilities back to the U.S. The space agency has set its hopes on two companies: Boeing, a long-time friend of NASA, and SpaceX, which should require no introduction.

The plan was for both SpaceX and Boeing to launch their first crewed flights to the space station in 2017. Although NASA has said it was unsure who would get to carry astronauts first, SpaceX's uncrewed version of the Dragon capsule is regularly carrying cargo deliveries to the International Space Station, while Boeing's Starliner hasn't yet flown to space.