Feb

2013

11:58pm, EST

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket passes test in advance of space station launch

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket completed a two-second ignition of its first stage while being held down onto its Florida launch pad on Monday, in preparation for Friday's launch to the International Space Station. This view of the test was taken by a remote video camera, which makes it difficult to see the flare of the rocket.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Follow @b0yle

SpaceX said it completed a successful test of the engines on its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, in preparation for Friday's planned cargo launch to the International Space Station.

The California-based rocket company's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver about 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms) of supplies to the space station and bring back 2,300 pounds (1,050 kilograms) of cargo, including scientific samples and space station hardware.

Monday's static-fire test was aimed at checking the performance of the Falcon 9 first stage's nine engines before they're called upon to loft the second stage and the Dragon capsule toward orbit on Friday. The rocket was held down onto its launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for the engine firing, which came at the end of a dress rehearsal for Friday's countdown.

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"SpaceX engineers ran through all countdown processes as though it were launch day," the company said in a statement issued after the 1:30 p.m. ET firing. "All nine engines fired at full power for two seconds, while the Falcon 9 was held down to the pad. SpaceX will now conduct a thorough review of all data and continue preparations for Friday's targeted launch."

In a Twitter update, SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, reported that the static-fire test looked good: "Engines generated 433 tons of thrust, parameters nominal."

SpaceX said the first opportunity for launch will come at 10:10 a.m. ET on Friday. This is the third Dragon to be sent to the space station, and the second flight under the terms of a $1.6 billion, 12-flight cargo resupply contract with NASA.

Another company, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., has a separate $1.9 billion contract to deliver supplies to the space station but has not yet begun flying its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule. On Friday, Orbital completed a successful static-fire test of Antares' engines in preparation for the rocket's first flight, which is expected to take place later this year.

NASA's contracts with SpaceX and Orbital are meant to help fill the gap left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011. Russian, European and Japanese unmanned spacecraft are also used to send supplies to the space station, but Russia's Soyuz capsule is the only spacecraft currently cleared to transport astronauts to and from orbit. NASA is providing more than $1 billion to SpaceX, the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. to support the development of new crew-capable spacecraft for low Earth orbit.

More about SpaceX's mission:

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Explore related topics: space, featured, nasa, dragon, iss, spacex, new-space, crs-2

ray smith

keep it simple guys, we all need an a+ cause the nannies are watching and want to take our bottle rockets away before we get beyond their control freakish clutchs

3 votes

#1 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:04 AM EST

mob_barley

What?

So, is NASA the "nannies" in that analogy?

#1.1 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:00 PM EST

ray smith

what would make you think that? naw, think soccer moms, anti smoking, anti eating....you know all the do gooders that push their way into your life to protect you from yourself....errrr, bob, the secret question into the nanny society is which civil right should we tramp on today?? If you are paying attention, there are plenty of people that do not think private enterprise should be in space, american or otherwise. They are ready to pounce on any mistake, in fact many of them where whining about nasa after the shuttle diasasters, often phrasing questions like why explore space? so bob, the question to the not so secret anti nanny society is whose rights are these? (there is only one correct answer and it is not ours, theirs, everyones nor noones or even yours).

#1.2 - Wed Feb 27, 2013 2:08 AM EST

ThinkingScientist

Quite a few haters were commenting on Dennis Tito's plan to send a married couple around Mars and back that the private sector isn't making progress. I suppose they didn't read this article huh?

1 vote

#1.3 - Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:26 PM EST

Dangerous Mind

Come on Elon keep pushing! We need more like you.

3 votes

#2 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:11 AM EST

SF accountant

These news stories about private space ventures testing their engines and making launches are starting to become routine. Good.

Future's looking up! More space for everybody!

4 votes

#3 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:31 AM EST

R-738279

Go Baby Go!!!!

#4 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:08 PM EST

Harcourt Fenton Mudd

Everything looking good for another successful launch.

1 vote

#5 - Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:38 PM EST

Coyote-735237

Who needs Anti Space Nannies, ASN, when we have sequestration, congress and a presidental Budget Diaster. SCBD? And when the ASN Get together with SCBD er we will have the SS BAND CD. which is ... Sequestration Space Budget (for) Anti Nannies (&) Congress Diaster

Nasa will have enough money to buy a toothbrush to wash and polish their floors. India or China would have the power to kick our butts, but why bother with all the nuke blasted cities and radiated soil from the attacks from North Korea. and other USA loving fanitics. We have truely lost the cold war and all we needed for this loss was a divided congress and a lack of common sense with money..

#6 - Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:19 AM EST

Ajay Jain