SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Poised at Pad to Open New Space Era

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The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now poised at the launch pad and set to open a completely new era in spaceflight. Hopes are sky high that Saturday mornings Falcon 9 launch represents the dawn of the commercial era in spaceflight akin to the startup of the commercial airline industry early in the 20th Century and will lead eventually lead to a vast expansion in the exploration and exploitation of space.

Engineers moved the rocket on rails last night about 600 feet from the processing hangar out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and then raised it to the vertical launch position. See my photos here of the Falcon 9 taken less than 24 hours from the planned liftoff

The mission is designated COTS 2 and entails the first ever attempt by a commercial firm to dock at the International Space Station, a feat heretofore only accomplished by sovereign nations.

The 157 foot tall Falcon 9 is topped by the Dragon spacecraft also developed by SpaceX and slated to liftoff at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT).

The high stakes mission is billed as a test flight and could be viewed by powerful Washington lawmakers as a boon or bust to the burgeoning commercial space industry.

Ken Kremer