SpaceX Monday Conducted a static fire of their Falcon 9 launcher on the pad at Cape Canaveral in anticipation of the planned May 7th launch of their Dragon capsule to the ISS. If the mission is successful it will be the first commercial resupply mission to the ISS, a truly historic mission. The launch is scheduled for 09:38 EDT, with NASA TV coverage beginning at 08:00.
There isn’t a lot to see in the video, the test firing only lasts for two seconds before the planned abort. I still think it is fun to watch, and it shows just how sparse SpaceX’s pad infrastructure is. When they start manned flights of the Dragon I suppose they’ll need a more traditional service tower for crew access.
I’m excited for the mission, while at the same time trying to temper that with the knowledge that it is very much a test flight and there is a good chance it won’t go off as planned. But if anything does go wrong SpaceX is committed to learning from the mission and trying again, just as they did with the first few Falcon 1 flights which, while failing as a larger mission, we successful as instructive test flights, leading to eventual success. And ultimately to the successful flight of the Falcon 9 and Dragon.
Good luck and godspeed, SpaceX!
