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First an explanation -
AIAA Space 2009 is this years meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Just about anyone who's anyone in aerospace is there, so big news is routine.
Jeff Foust is the the publisher of The Space Review, a well known space news site. Just a few hours ago Jeff twittered that -
SpaceX considering flying qualification model of Dragon capsule on Falcon 9 test flight late this year.
Jeff not being one to report anything he hasn't sourced this is huge news as it means the the first Dragon spaceship will fly on Falcon 9's maiden flight scheduled for Q4 this year instead of on the first NASA COTS flight (test of cargo to ISS capabilities) scheduled for Q1 of 2010.
This amounts to a major acceleration of the Dragon program, and another step towards SpaceX flying manned Dragon missions to the ISS and other places.
It also fits nicely with another Dragon factoid that came out recently; the unpressurized cargo 'trunk' was set to be 2.3 meters long, but now there is an optional 'trunk extension' that adds another 4.3 meters to that, making for a huge increase to 6.6 meters in length. Image from the DragonLab materials below....
Also floating around is a firm rumor that a new Dragon intended for beyond LEO missions is in the works. Can't wait to see the specifics on that.
AIAA Space 2009 is this years meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Just about anyone who's anyone in aerospace is there, so big news is routine.
Jeff Foust is the the publisher of The Space Review, a well known space news site. Just a few hours ago Jeff twittered that -
SpaceX considering flying qualification model of Dragon capsule on Falcon 9 test flight late this year.
Jeff not being one to report anything he hasn't sourced this is huge news as it means the the first Dragon spaceship will fly on Falcon 9's maiden flight scheduled for Q4 this year instead of on the first NASA COTS flight (test of cargo to ISS capabilities) scheduled for Q1 of 2010.
This amounts to a major acceleration of the Dragon program, and another step towards SpaceX flying manned Dragon missions to the ISS and other places.
It also fits nicely with another Dragon factoid that came out recently; the unpressurized cargo 'trunk' was set to be 2.3 meters long, but now there is an optional 'trunk extension' that adds another 4.3 meters to that, making for a huge increase to 6.6 meters in length. Image from the DragonLab materials below....
Also floating around is a firm rumor that a new Dragon intended for beyond LEO missions is in the works. Can't wait to see the specifics on that.