SpaceX Prepares For April 30 Launch To Space Station

SpaceX Prepares For April 30 Launch To Space Station:

Photo: SpaceX

SpaceX and NASA announced a new schedule for the private company’s planned rendezvous with the International Space Station. The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was expected to take place earlier in the year, but as is often the case with space flights, it was postponed for more testing. Now the company is aiming for an April 30 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission will combine two tests for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract into a single flight. A few days after launching, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the space station for docking, getting very close, but not actually connecting in order to make sure everything works as planned on both the SpaceX and the station side. After retreating to some safe distance for a period of time, the Dragon will then repeat the approach. But on the second run engineers will go all the way, docking with the ISS.
The tests are to demonstrate SpaceX’s capabilities to deliver payloads to the ISS. Since the retirement of the space shuttle program last year, NASA has been relying on the Russian rockets to deliver astronauts and cargo to the station. The Dragon will only carry cargo initially, but it is being developed to carry astronauts to orbit as well. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract for 12 cargo flights to the ISS.
Earlier this month SpaceX completed a dress rehearsal complete with countdown and fueling roughly 75,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and kerosene into the Falcon 9 rocket as it sat upright on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. The test was one of the final steps before getting the go ahead for the actual launch.
In addition to announcing a new launch date, SpaceX celebrated its 10th birthday this week. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk and was awarded the COTS contract with NASA in 2006. In 2008 SpaceX delivered its first payload to orbit, a Malaysian satellite. In 2010, the Dragon spacecraft was launched into orbit (picture above) and successfully retrieved back on earth, making SpaceX the first private company to complete such a flight.
In addition to SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corporation is also competing for the COTS contract with its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.