14 DAY TRIAL // Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) is currently getting ready to launch its second Dragon unmanned space capsule to orbit, this time on a mission to attempt a dock with the International Space Station (ISS). This will be Dragon's second flight ever.
Engineers with the company say that the originally-planned launch, in late December, 2011, was moved to January, 2012, then February, and then late March, in order to give them more time to ensure that all systems aboard the capsule and its Falcon 9 delivery system are in order.
This flight is being conducted as part of a high-value contract that SpaceX has with the American space agency, for delivering cargo, and eventually astronauts, to the orbital lab. A lot hinges on this particular test flight, which is why SpaceX is so careful to get everything right, Space reports.
The company, owned by PayPal co-founder and Tesla founder Elon Musk, celebrated the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Dragon with the release of an interactive panorama showing the interior of the capsule.
“Today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar and this year, SpaceX's Dragon will become the first privately developed spacecraft to visit the International Space Station,” a statement from the agency revealed yesterday, January 23.
“Space travel is one of the most difficult of all human endeavors, and success is never a guarantee. This flight introduces a series of new challenges and new magnitudes of complexity; if even the smallest thing goes wrong, we will be forced to abort the mission,” the press release went on to say.
Under the $1.6 billion Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract it signed with NASA, SpaceX needs to use its Falcon 9/Dragon combo to carry out 12 resupply flights to the ISS.
The rocket carried out only two flights thus far, one in June 2010 and another in December of the same year, while the Dragon only flew during Falcon 9's second flight. The latter marked the first time a private company was able to send a spacecraft to space, and then have it land safely in the ocean.
If the March flight is successful, then Space will exceed another historic milestone. ”There will be challenges along the way, but SpaceX will again make history and become the first private company to send a spacecraft to the [ISS]. We take this responsibility very seriously and will not stop until we succeed,” the statement concludes.