14 DAY TRIAL // SpaceX, one of the most important and renowned private spaceflight companies in the world today, has demonstrated over the years that its engineers have sufficient skill to construct a rocket able to deliver a payload to the low-Earth orbit. Now, following the successful test launches of its delivery systems, it plans for the future. Company representatives have recently announced that they are planning to send the first unmanned cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station in 2010, Space reports.
The first flight is scheduled to take place sometime between May and November 2010, officials from the Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX have announced. They reveal that three NASA astronauts have already experienced the first contact with the new spacecraft, at the company's headquarters. The operational tests of the Dragon capsule saw the participation of NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock, who learned firsthand this October how to interface with the new capsule design, once it was safely docked on the ISS.
“Three of the participating astronauts will be on board the ISS when Dragon makes its first visit under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program,” SpaceX officials announce. A part of the funds required by the new spacecraft came from the American space agency, under the COTS initiative, which the company won fair and square. The new cargo spacecraft will operate in very much the same way the new Japanese HTV module does – it will fly close to the ISS, and it will then be caught with the robotic arm, and taken to a docking port.
The three astronauts that already had contact with the new craft will be part of Expedition 24, which will be on the station between May and November 2010. SpaceX therefore has a seven-month window to launch Dragon to the ISS. Speaking about the October tests, the private company's CEO, Elon Musk, has said recently that, “This was the first time the NASA astronauts who will interact with Dragon during its early mission were actually inside a Dragon flight vehicle.” The cargo vehicle will be delivered to space aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which is also scheduled to make its debut flight in early 2010.
NASA signed a $1.6-billion contract with SpaceX, which included the successful completion of three successful flight tests of Falcon 9 delivery systems equipped with Dragon capsules, as well as 12 cargo flights to the station, all stretched between 2010 and 2015. During these times, the space agency will be left without any orbital capabilities of its own, as the space shuttles are due to be retired late next year. Until 2015/2106, when Project Constellation projects will start being completed, there will be no more ISS visits from NASA-built spacecraft. American astronauts will launch on Russian Soyuz space capsules.