SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Friday
The launch window for the prospective space taxi opens Friday morning at 8 AM Pacific time and lasts for four hours. If Friday's launch fails, the Falcon 9 will try again on Saturday morning at the same time.
Weather conditions at Cape Canaveral are a 40% "no-go" for both days. However, SpaceX expects the rocket's Flight Termination System (which would allow the Air Force to destroy Falcon 9 if it strays from its flight path) to be approved by Friday, so Falcon 9 will be set up at the launchpad tomorrow afternoon.
A webcast of the launch will be available here.
SpaceX employees got a visit from President Obama in April, right before he made his controversial speech calling for a new direction for NASA and the U.S. space program.
One change is that private companies like SpaceX would take over shuttling astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station, while NASA would focus on developing technologies that would advance human exploration of space. SpaceX has a contract with NASA to carry cargo in the Falcon 9 starting next year.
From SpaceX:
It’s important to note that since this is a test launch, our primary goal is to collect as much data as possible, with success being measured as a percentage of how many flight milestones we are able to complete in this first attempt. It would be a great day if we reach orbital velocity, but still a good day if the first stage functions correctly, even if the second stage malfunctions. It would be a bad day if something happens on the launch pad itself and we’re not able to gain any flight data.
If we have a bad day, it will be disappointing, but one launch does not make or break SpaceX as a company, nor commercial spaceflight as an industry. The Atlas rocket only succeeded on its 13th flight, and today it is the most reliable vehicle in the American fleet, with a record better than Shuttle.
Here's a chart comparing the Falcon 9 with NASA's space shuttle from NPR, which also notes that SpaceX's first rocket, the Falcon 1, took four tries before it delivered its payload to the correct orbit.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com