SpaceX, the first private company authorized to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, has delayed the launch of the first such mission due to longer than expected testing of its computer systems, according to reports.
After several earlier delays, SpaceX last week said that it had settled on May 7 as the launch date for the first privately funded spacecraft on a mission to rendezvous with the orbiting space lab. Now, already three months behind schedule, the company must launch by May 10 or be forced to wait until late the following week because the Russian space agency is scheduled to take three new ISS astronauts to the space station on May 15.
Any attempt by SpaceX to send its Dragon capsule to the ISS after next Thursday would have to wait for the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to safely dock at the space station.
"We're working with NASA to complete the software verification process, and we hope to announce a new launch date soon," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham told media.
In what will be the second demonstration launch for SpaceX in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, the company plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule with cargo for the ISS from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Once in orbit, the automated Dragon capsule will berth with the ISS if it passes a systems check.
The unmanned test flight was once scheduled for April 30, then pushed back to May 3 before NASA and SpaceX settled on May 7 a week ago. Now the launch date appears to be back in unknown territory, but over the weekend, SpaceX did successfully test fire the nine Merlin rocket engines on the Falcon 9 out on the pad at Space Launch Complex 40.
SpaceX, run by PayPal and Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk (pictured), plans to conduct manned flights to ISS by 2015 as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.
If and when the ISS rendezvous does happen, crew aboard the space station will use the space station's robotic arm to dock the capsule, which will be carrying about 1,150 pounds of cargo for delivery to the orbiting lab. Then the SpaceX Dragon is supposed to take on a 1,455-pound payload to bring back to Earth.
Since ending its storied space shuttle program last year, NASA and other international space programs have relied on the Russian space agency to ferry crew to the orbiting space lab. Seeking alternatives, NASA has been working with private companies like Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX to develop commercial spaceflight for manned missions and space exploration ventures conducted by robotic probes.
SpaceX has both COTS and CCDev contracts with NASA to develop an astronaut ferry service to the ISS. The company conducted its first COTS Demo Flight 1 mission a little more than a year ago, launching a Dragon C1 capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 8, 2010, inserting the Dragon C1 into orbit, and recovering the capsule to become the first privately funded company to successfully complete the orbital insertion and recovery of a spacecraft.
Musk, who serves as the company's chief executive, co-founded SpaceX with Tom Mueller in 2002. SpaceX received its first contract with NASA in 2006. SpaceX has conducted several successful launches of its Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 space boosters, including missions to insert satellites into orbit around Earth.
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