Commercial spaceship gets orbital test

SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule on Thursday went through orbital tests aimed at making sure the pioneering commercial spaceship can be brought in safely for a hookup with the International Space Station.

Thursday's maneuvers were a key part of a mission aimed at demonstrating Dragon's capabilities ? and eventually reducing the U.S. government's role in resupplying the space station.

California-based SpaceX, known more formally as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., launched the unmanned Dragon into orbit on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The company's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, reported in a Twitter update early Thursday that Dragon was "in direct communication with the space station."

Later, Dragon successfully performed the first engine burn required for a space station flyby. The craft will use GPS satellite navigation data and data from the space station itself to maneuver to a point 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers) away.

After a flurry of tests, including the first attempt by astronauts aboard the station to directly command the capsule, it will drop back into position for a possible berthing on Friday.

If all goes as planned, station flight engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the station's robotic arm to pluck Dragon from orbit and attach it to a berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node.

Dragon is carrying about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of food, water, clothing and supplies for the station crew. The mission plan calls for the capsule to be emptied, then repacked with equipment to bring back to Earth. Dragon would leave the station on May 31, and splash down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California about 4.5 hours later.

Since the space shuttles were retired last year, the United States has been dependent on partner countries to reach the station, which flies 240 miles (385 kilometers) above Earth.

If successful, this week's demonstration flight would give NASA back its space wings, albeit by proxy. Rather than building and flying its own ships to the station, the space agency is counting on hiring private companies to do the work.

Cargo missions are the first step.

SpaceX and a second firm, Orbital Sciences Corp, already hold contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion for station cargo flights through about 2015.

A more controversial step is the Obama administration's effort to develop space taxis to carry astronauts to and from the station. The initiative, which has been criticized by such luminaries as Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong, may be helped by SpaceX's high-profile flight. SpaceX is already receiving financial support from NASA to adapt Dragon for crew transport.

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"I hope that the success of this mission ? thus far at least, and hopeful it's entirely successful ? will dispel some of the doubts that people have," Musk told reporters after launch. "In some cases, people have had legitimate concerns because there's no precedent for what we're doing here."

Tuesday's launch drew a flurry of statements from members of Congress, some of whom voted to cut President Barack Obama's $830 million budget request for space taxi development for the year beginning Oct. 1 to about $500 million.

"I am happy to see this very challenging mission begin," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Texas Republican who has strongly advocated a separate NASA initiative to build a heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule for missions beyond Earth orbit.

"There are many crucial milestones to be reached and capabilities to be demonstrated during this flight, all of which we hope leads to a demonstrated ability to provide cargo service to the International Space Station," Bailey Hutchinson said in a statement. She made no mention of the follow-on program for commercial space taxis.

Others were quick to link the success of NASA's alternative partnerships, which led to the Dragon's space station debut, to the commercial crew program.

"Endeavors like this will make it possible for the private industry to venture into outer space and capitalize on the associated economic growth," said U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on a NASA appropriations subcommittee.

"The SpaceX mission is not just a single venture into space, but a change in the trajectory of how we think of space exploration," Fattah said in a statement.

Another advocate of space commercialization, U.S. Rep Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said the SpaceX mission "brings NASA one more step in the right direction."

"We must change orbital spaceflight from being dependent on and controlled by government employees, toward more entrepreneurial, cost-effective, commercial-based alternatives," Rohrabacher said.

NASA is in the process of reviewing proposals from at least four firms, including SpaceX, for space taxi development funds. The space agency is expected to announce which space taxi designs will receive further support in August.

Musk said he received an unexpected vote of support on Wednesday, based on SpaceX's success so far.

"The president just called to say congrats," Musk reported in a Twitter update. "Caller ID was blocked, so at first I thought it was a telemarketer."

This report includes information from Reuters and msnbc.com.

? 2012 msnbc.com

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