SpaceX delays Dragon launch
Posted: Tue, Apr 24, 2012, 6:11 AM ET (1011 GMT)
SpaceX announced late Monday that it will push back the launch of its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station by about a week to allow time for additional tests. SpaceX had been planning to launch the Dragon spacecraft on April 30 on a demonstration mission to approach and potentially berth with the ISS, and NASA and SpaceX had tentatively approved the launch date a week earlier. However, SpaceX announced on Monday that it decided to delay the launch by about a week to perform additional tests on the software used by Dragon to approach the ISS. No new launch date has been announced, but will likely be after the launch of an Atlas 5 carrying a military satellite now planned for May 3. The Dragon flight is a test flight under SpaceX's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) award from NASA and, if successful, will allow the company to begin regular commercial cargo flights to the ISS later this year.
SpaceX announced late Monday that it will push back the launch of its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station by about a week to allow time for additional tests. SpaceX had been planning to launch the Dragon spacecraft on April 30 on a demonstration mission to approach and potentially berth with the ISS, and NASA and SpaceX had tentatively approved the launch date a week earlier. However, SpaceX announced on Monday that it decided to delay the launch by about a week to perform additional tests on the software used by Dragon to approach the ISS. No new launch date has been announced, but will likely be after the launch of an Atlas 5 carrying a military satellite now planned for May 3. The Dragon flight is a test flight under SpaceX's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) award from NASA and, if successful, will allow the company to begin regular commercial cargo flights to the ISS later this year.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Virgin Galactic conducts first suborbital spaceflight since 2021
Posted: Sat, May 27 10:56 AM ET (1456 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, May 30
Shenzhou 16 lifts off with China’s first civilian astronaut on board
South China Morning Post — 5:34 am ET (0934 GMT) China launches Shenzhou 16 on post-assembly space station mission
collectSPACE — 5:34 am ET (0934 GMT) Xi Charm Offensive Turns to Space as ‘Divine Craft’ Launches
Bloomberg News — 5:33 am ET (0933 GMT) Shenzhou-16 astronauts arrive at China’s space station
Space News — 5:31 am ET (0931 GMT) North Korea says "reconnaissance satellite" to be launched in June
Kyodo International — 5:30 am ET (0930 GMT) |
