Thursday, February 7, 2019

SpaceX Shifts Crew Dragon test Flight To March 2nd

Hawthorne-based SpaceX is shifting the first, test flight of its Crew Dragon vehicle to March 2nd, according to NASA, in what will be the first SpaceX test of its vehicle for launching astronauts to the International Space Station. SpaceX had originally been hoping to launch the first test flight in January. Reason for the shifted dates were not given, however, those programs were undoubtedly affected by the record government shutdown in December and January, as NASA was oen of the agencies shut down during that time. NASA also has shifted the competing commercial crew vehicle being developed by Boeing, which will now occur no earlier than April. NASA said the change in launch dates will allow for completion of necessary hardware testing, data verification, remaining NASA and provider reviews, as well as training of flight controllers and mission managers. SpaceX completed a static fire test of its Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon in January for the upcoming Demo-1 mission. (Image: Static fire test of the Demo-1 rocket).

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