SpaceX Sets Dates for Launch Escape Tests on Dragon Spaceship

SpaceX's Dragon Version 2 spaceship is designed to be reusable. Image released May 29, 2014.
SpaceX's Dragon Version 2 spaceship is designed to be reusable. The company plans to conduct to tests of the vehicle's launch-abort system in November 2014 and January 2015. Image released May 29, 2014. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX plans to conduct two critical tests of its manned Dragon capsule's emergency abort system, designed to carry astronauts to safety during a launch failure, in the next five months, according to media reports.

The first test will take place in November on the launch pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the second will be a January in-flight trial originating from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Space News reported today (Aug. 7), citing a presentation yesterday by SpaceX's Garrett Reisman at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space 2014 conference in San Diego.

"In the pad-abort test, Dragon will be mounted to a mocked-up SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and use its hydrazine-fueled SuperDraco thrusters to boost itself up and away from the pad, as it might need to do in the event of a major problem just before or during liftoff," Space News' Dan Leone wrote. "The in-flight test will attempt to repeat the feat at altitude."

NASA is encouraging the development of private American astronaut taxis through its commercial crew program, aiming for such vehicles to fill the void left by the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011. The agency is currently dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to carry its astronauts to the station and back down to Earth again.

SpaceX is one of three companies to receive funding in the latest round of commercial crew awards. The other two are Boeing, which is developing a capsule called the CST-100, and Sierra Nevada Corp., which is building a space plane known as Dream Chaser.

NASA ultimately plans to choose at least one of these vehicles for operational crew-carrying flights, which are scheduled to begin by late 2017. 

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Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.