By
December, SpaceX plans to bring a nine-engine rocket to Cape Canaveral that
company officials believe could be one of the next spacecraft to carry cargo to
the International Space Station.
SpaceX hopes this and
future rockets can fill the gap between the end of the
shuttle program and the start of flights under NASA's Constellation
program.
"We plan to deliver
and close that gap," Brian G. Mosdell, the SpaceX director of Florida
Launch Operations, told the National Space Club in Cocoa Beach Tuesday.
The company, which has failed
to orbit a rocket in three tries, has contracts for seven launches from
Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The company's first Falcon 9
rocket is under construction in Los Angeles. After arriving in December, it is
expected to launch during the first quarter of 2009.
After demolishing an old
launch tower at Launch Complex 40, the company has installed propellant tanks
and plans to complete a 225-foot by 75-foot hangar to assemble the rocket,
which will be raised to vertical at the launch pad.
Space Florida, the state
entity formed to support the commercial space industry, has given SpaceX more
than $1 million in cash and in-kind support, including office space, surplus fuel
tanks and administrative support.
Space Florida so far has
been undaunted by SpaceX's
record of failure during launches from Kwajalein in the central Pacific.
"The success of SpaceX
is success for all of us," said Space Florida spokeswoman Deb Spicer.
"It will be good for all of us for them to succeed."
The company of 500 has only
25 employees working at the Cape.
"We're working to
expand in support of our launch operations," said Mosdell.
"We've really made
great progress with our band of 25."
The low-cost commercial
Falcon 9 rocket has the same capability as the Delta 4 and the Atlas 5, said
Mosdell.
International events have
made SpaceX's success important. Due to political
fallout from Russia's conflict in Georgia, NASA might not be able to buy
flights on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. NASA might find it necessary to continue
flying the shuttle or rely on commercial rockets developed by the Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services program, under which NASA is partially funding
SpaceX and another company to build experimental rockets.
"Everyone's aware of
the political sensitivity (of relying on the Russians)," Mosdell said.
"That's just not the best solution."
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