Keefer Madness

SpaceX Cargo Flight on Hold Until at Least Late March 2012

// January 22nd, 2012 // Space Stuff & NASA

Delays are commonplace in space flight, so it shouldn’t be surprising or unexpected that the maiden SpaceX cargo flight to the international space station has been pushed back from its February launch till at least March.

This will give SpaceX-employed engineers time to complete additional hardware and software testing, as well as software analysis at the Florida Space Coast.

It makes sense to take it slow at the beginning of these vehicles, wrinkling out as many bugs pre-flight as possible.

The company has not set an official target launch date for its Dragon cargo carrier, but the long-awaited mission is not expected to fly before March 20 and it could slip to early-to-mid April depending on what it takes to shoehorn the flight into an already busy space station schedule and to book a slot with the Air Force Eastern Range, which orchestrates all East Coast launches.

SpaceX Cargo Flight on Hold Until at Least Late March