Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the private rocket firm announced on 16th, this month that the first attempt to send one of its privately built space capsule to the International Space Station has been delayed to allow more time to prepare the vehicle, to show it can fly! The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by the SpaceX, was scheduled to launch toward the space station on Feb. 7, but the company has decided to postpone the flight to accommodate more engineering tests, to ensure that it a success.
However, the new launch date is still unknown, with SpaceX officials saying that the company is working with NASA to determine the best time for the test flight. As per the officials, “We are now working with NASA to establish a new target launch date, but note that we will continue to test and review data. We will launch when the vehicle is ready”.
The launch of the Dragon capsule atop SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 rocket is expected to be a critical step for the private spaceflight industry.The Dragon is expected to dock with the station on its first visit, leapfrogging ahead of previous schedules calling for an initial trial rendezvous without docking.It is designed to test the vehicle’s ability to carry cargo to the station.
Though Dragon is currently intended for unmanned supply flights to the International Space Station, SpaceX contends that the vehicle and the Falcon 9 are safe and reliable enough to carry people as soon as NASA will allow this, (after it will successfully show its ability on the unmanned mission) which would restore US manned space flight capability – currently unavailable following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. Dragon has already flown once so far, making a successful orbital flight and return atop a Falcon 9 carrying a large cheese at the end of 2010 – the first time a private company had ever achieved such a feat.
A recent update from SpaceX tells explicitly of Dragon accordingly, it has “the power it needs for longer trips, whether to the Space Station or future missions to Mars”.
SpaceX’s planned flight is the second for the company under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.In order to realise such lofty goals, however,SpaceX must first show that the Dragon is not a one-shot wonder by achieving a solid record of unmanned missions to the ISS. The next hurdle will be manned operations, and then, perhaps, the real battle will begin, i.e. of one day carrying NASA astronauts and other paying customers to low-Earth orbit.
