Launch of Falcon Rocket a Milestone in Space Transport
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012May 22, 2012
A new era in space flight lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 22 with the final test flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, the first nongovernment spacecraft launched to the International Space Station (ISS). The unpiloted Falcon, built by Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is scheduled to rendezvous with the ISS on Thursday, May 24. The next day, crew members will attempt to grab the Dragon space capsule carried into orbit by Falcon and attach it to the station’s Harmony module. If all goes well, crew members will enter Dragon on Saturday morning and unload the 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of food, clothing, water, and other supplies inside.
Dragon is scheduled to leave the ISS on May 31 with completed scientific experiments and other cargo and splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Unpiloted spacecraft have been carrying supplies to the ISS since 2000. However, Dragon is the only transport vehicle designed to carry cargo back to Earth. All the other resupply vehicles burn up in the atmosphere on their return. Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, has a $1.6-billion contract to fly at least 12 delivery missions to the ISS over the next few years.
The Falcon 9 and its Dragon space capsule, the first nongovernmental space vehicle launched to the International Space Station, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 22, 2012. (NASA TV)
Today’s launch of the Falcon 9 represents a major step in NASA‘s effort to shift to commercial spacecraft for transporting supplies and crew members into low-Earth orbit. Since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA has been relying on cargo transports launched by Russia, Japan, and the European Union. SpaceX is one of several private companies that have won NASA contracts to develop an American space transport vehicle. SpaceX launched the Falcon rocket on two test flights in 2010. In December, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to safely orbit and return to Earth. The company also plans to develop a version of the Dragon capsule that can transport people into space.
The Falcon rocket is named for the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo’s spaceship in the Star Wars trilogy. The Dragon space capsule got its name from the 1962 song “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” popularized by the singing group Peter, Paul, and Mary. Several news sources reported that the second stage of the Falcon rocket carried the ashes of more than 300 people, including American astronaut Gordon Cooper and actor James Doohan, who played engineer Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures.
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