The official SpaceX twitter confirmed that Elon Musk's company is already preparing for the Falcon 9 launch, which is expected to happen this coming Feb. 21. The company announced that it has finished the static fire test for this spaceflight. Here's what we know about this.
As seen on SpaceX's Twitter, the CEO and founder confirmed that the Falcon 9 preparations are almost complete. The rocket is being prepared to send the Indonesian satellite Nusantara Satu into orbit and will be launched from the Pad 40 launch site in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
With the flight schedule moving along, SpaceX won't need to fear having any of their spaceflights revoked due to delays and conflicts by late 2019. Since Falcon 9 is going first, the Crew Dragon flight is expected to be the next one after this.
Previously, the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon launches were both almost scheduled for March as they had to give time for the tests to be successful. If the delay had still pushed through, this would have been a big problem for SpaceX as the launch pad could only accommodate one spaceflight, which would then in turn stack more delays to the SpaceX projects. With Falcon 9's February flight, the Crew Dragon DM-1 flight won't have to worry about that anymore.
Once both these launches are over, the company will likely ramp up preparations for the Crew Dragon DM-2, which would be a manned spaceflight with two crews onboard. This project is SpaceX's attempt at human transportation between Earth and outer space destinations such as space stations. SpaceX is planning to launch ships that allow them to transport people and cargo to outer space.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 launches are mostly for sending out satellites and other commercial payloads orbit. In the future, the data gathered from the Falcon launches would be used to make the Super Heavy ship which would be the large commercial spaceflight vehicle.
SpaceX is looking to establish a human colony on Mars once they're able to complete all their spaceflight tests and make their larger rockets. For now, we'll have to wait for SpaceX to update us soon.
This article was first published in IBTimes US. Permission required for reproduction.
