If all goes well, at 10:43, history is going to be made. That’s the scheduled launch date for the new private commercial space agency SpaceX, AKA the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. The company has an ambitious plan. SpaceX is looking to launch its Falcon 9 rocket, place the SpaceX Dragon space capsule into orbit, leaving the capsule in space for two orbits around Earth, and then successfully return the capsule to Earth via a splash-down in the Pacific Ocean. No private company has ever done this before.
The original launch date was supposed to be yesterday, but plans were derailed by a cracked rocket nozzle. That problem has been fixed and all signs seem to point towards go for the first commercial space capsule to make its maiden voyage around the big blue marble we all live on. SpaceX has a contract with NASA to use the Kennedy Space Center and serve as a NASA courier, taking goods (and astronauts) back and forth to the International Space Station. NASA is phasing out the Space Shuttle this year; a new shuttle is currently in development.
Tags: SpaceX, SpaceX Falcon 9, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, Cape Canaveral, Florida, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, SpaceX Dragon, Dragon capsule, space exploration, private space flight, commercial spacecraft, International Space Station, NASA to hire SpaceX to deliver to the ISS