Last time this happens

[Dr Mordrid]

Two Shuttles on their pads at once

Atlantis (left - pad 39A) for the STS-125 final Hubble service mission and Endeavour (right - pad 39B) as a rescue ship in case there's a problem in orbit (too many smashed tiles etc), officially known as STS-400 LON (Launch On Need).

This because the Hubble is in a different orbit than ISS, so ISS won't be available as a 'safe harbor' and the Atlantis hasn't enough fuel to make such a large orbital maneuver. If Endeavour isn't needed it'll be re-designated STS-127 for its mission in June - taking Japan's Kibo Laboratory hardware to the ISS.

Shuttle flights end in May-June 2010 when Endeavour closes out the program - just 8 flights left and a little over a year to get them in. Atlantis flies its last mission in Feb 2010 and Discovery in April 2010. After that it's off to the museums.

After that NASA either has to fund COTS-D to buy private rides to the ISS until 2016 when/if Orion is ready to fly or we buy rides from the Russians. The most likely private ride is SpaceX's Dragon since it's the only one anywhere near ready - flies late this year - and in crew configuration it can take up a shuttle-size crew of 7.

[High_Jumbllama]

When is the Falcon Nine supposed to launch? The projected date has long since passed.

THe updated the upcoming missions on their site. http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php. Still quite vague with 2009 being listed.

[Dr Mordrid]

The manifest dates are 'got the parts to the pad' dates, not launch dates.

The trip to the pad a few weeks ago was to test vehicle integration (assembly) outdoors and test the gantry elevator & such. The parts were then sent back to their (765,500 sq ft) Hawthorne, California factory for upgrades & further testing. They'll go back to the cape this summer for launch late this fall.

In the mean time they're building their (large) horizontal integration building - big enough to assemble a Falcon 9 Heavy - and run the piping for the H2 and rocket grade kerosene tanks.

An additional delay was likely caused by time required to prepare a rumored DoD payload, but the only ones talking about that are outsiders. Previously it was to carry a dummy payload on the maiden flight - not at all unusual - but the DoD is a very good paying customer and has a big interest in SpaceX's rapid integration and launch technologies.

Basically this could get a recon bird over most anywhere almost as fast as DoD can get it and the launch vehicle to the pad; previously they've launched within an hour of the end of vehicle integration and testing. They even fixed a problem that caused a shutdown at T-0; draining the tanks, fixing the bird, refueling and launching within an hour.

SpaceX also has a damned production line going at Hawthorne for building F9 , the recently upgraded F1e and their Merlin, Kestrel and Draco engines.