WASHINGTON — SpaceX is closing in on its first human spaceflight, with President and COO Gwynne Shotwell telling reporters on Tuesday that the company is aiming to fly astronauts to space in about two months.

"We're gunning for May. We have work to do, NASA has work to do," Shotwell said at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington, D.C.

Her comments mean SpaceX remains on schedule in its quest to be the first U.S. company to fly NASA astronauts in nearly a decade. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in January that the company's first crewed mission, known as Demo-2, would likely happen in the second quarter of the year, between April and June. This mission would see two NASA astronauts visit the International Space Station

for at least a few days.

Only a few milestones remain for SpaceX, which has been developing the Crew Dragon capsule in part thanks to more than $3.1 billion in NASA awards.

"We're going to have to go through a certification process," Shotwell said.