SpaceX gears up for crucial rocket launch

June 2, 2010 at 9:51 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

By Sara M. Langston and blog faculty

Source: msnbc

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – California-based SpaceX has laid out a Friday timetable for the first test launch of its Falcon 9 rocket — and the first big test of President Barack Obama’s plan for human spaceflight…

Obama’s commercial options
Obama’s space plan calls for commercial providers such as SpaceX, as well as United Launch Alliance and Orbital Science Corp., to send crew as well as cargo to the space station once safety requirements are satisfied.

Such commercial options would take the place of NASA’s Ares 1 rocket development effort, which would be canceled if Congress signs off on the president’s plan. That cancellation is controversial in part because it would likely lead to thousands of layoffs among the space agency’s traditional contractors…[more]