Falcon 9 Undergoing Final Testing

Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announces that its medium-lift delivery system, the Falcon 9, is currently undergoing final preparations at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida. The rocket is one of the designs in which the American administration has placed great confidence, and for which President Obama decided to sack NASA's plans to return to the Moon, and develop Project Constellation. There is a great deal at stake here, and a lot depends on how this new space vehicle fares during its first launch, Space reports.

“SpaceX has not set specific dates for wet dress or static fire as [the] schedule will be driven by the satisfactory completion of all test objectives and a thorough review of the data,” officials at the company said on Sunday. SpaceX is currently involved with NASA in $2.6 billion contract that would have the corporation flying 12 cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2014. In 2010, two or three trial flights need to be conducted, before Falcon 9 takes over the job of the aging space shuttles, which will be retired this September.

Under the contract the company signed with the American space agency, it needs to conduct its first demo flight in the first half of 2010, with another one scheduled for another launch date between May and November. By next year, the Falcon 9 should theoretically be able to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The cargo will be placed in the Dragon space capsule, which will then become a part of the international fleet serving the outpost. The fleet also includes the Russian Progress and Soyuz capsules, the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV).

Speaking about a recent and successful test fire, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said on January 4 that, “This was the final stage firing required for launch, so the second stage will soon be packaged for shipment and should arrive at Cape Canaveral by the end of the month. Depending on how well our full vehicle integration goes, launch should occur one to three months later.” Musk added, “And of course, I'd like to thank the whole SpaceX team for their unwavering commitment to our company and our mission, especially over these last few months. Through their hard work and dedication, 2010 promises to be another great year.”