Falcon 9/Flight 2 with the COTS-1 Dragon spaceship is on the pad and will undergo fuel/liquid oxygen tanking/detanking and telemetry tests tomorrow. The provisional launch date is Oct. 23, but integration and testing have gone so well that SpaceX has hinted they may ask NASA for an earlier date.
COTS-1 is a test of Dragon's orbital insertion, maneuvering over several orbits, communications, re-entry and landing functions.
If it goes well COTS-2 will do the same, plus an approach to within a few kilometers of the ISS. It's also very possible that COTS-3 will be rolled into COTS-2 if that flight goes smoothly, which means the Dragon would actually dock at the ISS before returning to Earth.
This would mean operational ISS flights could begin as early as next summer, and DragonLab commercial research & military ops flights not long after.
COTS-1 is a test of Dragon's orbital insertion, maneuvering over several orbits, communications, re-entry and landing functions.
If it goes well COTS-2 will do the same, plus an approach to within a few kilometers of the ISS. It's also very possible that COTS-3 will be rolled into COTS-2 if that flight goes smoothly, which means the Dragon would actually dock at the ISS before returning to Earth.
This would mean operational ISS flights could begin as early as next summer, and DragonLab commercial research & military ops flights not long after.
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