SpaceX Feeling the Heat as Inaugural Falcon 9 Launch Nears

Artists' conception of a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: SpaceX)

The Pressure is On at SpaceX
By Alan Boyle
Cosmic Log

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says it’s hard to imagine being under more pressure than he is now, during preparations for the first launch of a rocket that’s being put forward as a replacement for the space shuttle system.

If the California-based company’s Falcon 9 rocket delivers as promised, it could start delivering cargo to the International Space Station as early as next year. And if NASA gives the go-ahead, the Falcon 9 and its Dragon capsule could be configured to carry astronauts as well in as little as three years’ time.

But those are a couple of big ifs, particularly for critics such as Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. “Today, the commercial providers that NASA has contracted with cannot even carry the trash back from the space station, much less carry humans to or from space safely,” Shelby said last month during a Senate hearing.

A successful Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida would go a long way toward assuring NASA, the White House and Congress that SpaceX can indeed carry the trash and eventually astronauts as well.A significant launch failure, however, would strengthen the hand of Shelby and others who want NASA to resurrect the Ares 1 rocket development program. Ares 1 was part of NASA’s Constellation return-to-the-moon program, but is currently marked for cancellation.

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