SpaceX and NASA have settled on May 19 as the launch target for the first privately funded cargo mission to the International Space Station following a delay due to a longer-than-anticipated software validation process, SpaceX revealed late last week.
Already months behind schedule, a launch date scheduled for Monday was cancelled last week as SpaceX and the U.S. space agency raced to test the company's Dragon capsule software systems. If the May 19 launch is delayed for some reason, a backup plan is to lift off on May 22, a SpaceX spokesperson told PCMag.
"SpaceX and NASA are nearing completion of the software assurance process, and SpaceX is submitting a request to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a May 19 launch target," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said. "Thus far, no issues have been uncovered during this process, but with a mission of this complexity we want to be extremely diligent."
In what will be the second demonstration launch for SpaceX in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule with cargo for the ISS will lift off 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 originally scheduled for April 30, then pushed back to May 3 before NASA and SpaceX settled on a date a few days later in May. 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.
After the May 7 date was cancelled, the company's launch plans were constrained 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 this Thursday must wait for the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to safely dock at the space station.
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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