Thursday, February 11, 2010

SpaceX Delivers Falcon 9 To Cape Canaveral

Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies, the commercial rocket venture of Paypal mogul Elon Musk, reported this morning that it has delivered its Falcon 9 vehicle to Cape Canaveral, in preparation for the new rocket's first launch. SpaceX said it is expecting it will be able to launch the vehicle between one to three months after it has fully integrated the various parts of the rocket together. SpaceX's Falcon 9 is aimed at fulfilling a COTS contract with NASA, to be able to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. That contract--if SpaceX fulfills the requirements--is worth up to $1.6 billion.