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SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket completed a two-second ignition of its first stage while being held down onto its Florida launch pad on Monday, in preparation for Friday's launch to the International Space Station. This view of the test was taken by a remote video camera, which makes it difficult to see the flare of the rocket.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

SpaceX said it completed a successful test of the engines on its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, in preparation for Friday's planned cargo launch to the International Space Station.

The California-based rocket company's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver about 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms) of supplies to the space station and bring back 2,300 pounds (1,050 kilograms) of cargo, including scientific samples and space station hardware.

Monday's static-fire test was aimed at checking the performance of the Falcon 9 first stage's nine engines before they're called upon to loft the second stage and the Dragon capsule toward orbit on Friday. The rocket was held down onto its launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for the engine firing, which came at the end of a dress rehearsal for Friday's countdown.

"SpaceX engineers ran through all countdown processes as though it were launch day," the company said in a statement issued after the 1:30 p.m. ET firing. "All nine engines fired at full power for two seconds, while the Falcon 9 was held down to the pad. SpaceX will now conduct a thorough review of all data and continue preparations for Friday's targeted launch."

In a Twitter update, SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, reported that the static-fire test looked good: "Engines generated 433 tons of thrust, parameters nominal."

SpaceX said the first opportunity for launch will come at 10:10 a.m. ET on Friday. This is the third Dragon to be sent to the space station, and the second flight under the terms of a $1.6 billion, 12-flight cargo resupply contract with NASA.

Another company, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., has a separate $1.9 billion contract to deliver supplies to the space station but has not yet begun flying its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule. On Friday, Orbital completed a successful static-fire test of Antares' engines in preparation for the rocket's first flight, which is expected to take place later this year.

NASA's contracts with SpaceX and Orbital are meant to help fill the gap left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011. Russian, European and Japanese unmanned spacecraft are also used to send supplies to the space station, but Russia's Soyuz capsule is the only spacecraft currently cleared to transport astronauts to and from orbit. NASA is providing more than $1 billion to SpaceX, the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. to support the development of new crew-capable spacecraft for low Earth orbit.

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SpaceX tests rocket for space station launch

International Space Station ISS Update - Feb. 26, 2013
The International Space Station ISS update video for Feb. 26, 2013.

By: NASAObservatory

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International Space Station ISS Update - Feb. 26, 2013 - Video

China aims to establish a large manned space station within the next decade, officials have said, and the latest reports suggest that this outpost could host not only Chinese astronauts, but European spaceflyers as well.

A plan is afoot for China and Europe to cooperate on the venture, which might see the European Space Agency (ESA) building technologies, including a rendezvous and docking system, for the station, in exchange for opportunities for its astronauts to visit the facility.

China plans to have the space station running by 2020. Both the station and China's manned spacecraft Shenzhou could use ESA's International Berthing and Docking Mechanism (IBDM), because of a problem with the Russian system the Chinese have been using until now.

China's Shenzhou and Tiangong-1 space laboratory, a test module already in orbit, use a modified version of Russia's Androgynous Peripheral Attach System (APAS). APAS was developed for the 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project and is used on the International Space Station (ISS). [HowChina'sFirstSpaceStation Will Work (Infographic)]

Bouncing off

An unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft docked with Tiangong-1 for the first time in November 2011, and the docking mechanism didn't work exactly as planned, some say.

"It was originally bouncing off," Bob Chesson, an ESA human spaceflight advisor, told SPACE.com. "Essentially they have to ram this [Shenzhou] thing in and they are very worried that if you assemble a station like that, you basically will have all sorts of structure fracture mechanics problems, that type of thing."

The Shenzhou spacecraft is not heavy enough to activate the APAS docking system correctly, Chesson said, so it had to be rammed forcefully to make a connection.

Chesson traveled to Beijing with ESA's director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain and talked with the China Manned Space Engineering Office.

"Our director general has made some noises that he wants us to get involved with [the Chinese space station program]," Chesson said. "The Chinese, we had them over and showed them [the IBDM] and they were very interested because they are using the modified APAS system."

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Europe May Work With China on Space Station

A private rocket has flexed its muscles in a key pre-launch test, firing up in preparation for lofting the next commercial cargo mission toward the International Space Station this Friday (March 1).

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocketsuccessfully executed a "static fire test" at around 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) today (Feb. 25), igniting its engines for a few seconds but staying earthbound at its launchpad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"During the static fire test today, SpaceX engineers ran through all countdown processes as though it were launch day," company officials said in a statement. "All nine engines fired at full power for two seconds, while the Falcon 9 was held down to the pad. SpaceX will now conduct a thorough review of all data and continue preparations for Friday's targeted launch."

The Falcon 9 is slated to blast SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the space station Friday on the company's second contracted cargo run for NASA. Dragon will carry about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies and scientific experiments to the orbiting lab, then return to Earth on March 25 with 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of experiment samples and equipment, NASA officials have said. [How SpaceX's Dragon Space Capsule Works (Infographic)]

California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to make 12 such resupply flights with Dragon and the Falcon 9. Dragon first reached the space station on a historic demonstration mission last May, and the company then flew its initial contracted cargo flight in October.

NASA also inked a $1.9 billion deal with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. for eight cargo flights using the company's Antares rocket and unmanned Cygnus capsule. Orbital plans to fly a demonstration mission to the station later this year and successfully test fired the first stage if the Antares rocket last week, officials have said.

The two contracts are part of a NASA effort to encourage American private spaceshipsto fill the cargo- and crew-carrying void left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in July 2011.

The space agency hopes at least one commercial vehicle is able to carry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit by 2017.

SpaceX is in the running to win a NASA crew contract with a manned version of Dragon. The other major contenders are Boeing, which is developing its own capsule called the CST-100, and Sierra Nevada Corp., which is building a space plane called Dream Chaser.

Until one or more of these manned spaceships is operational, NASA will rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly its astronauts, at a cost of about $60 million per seat.

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SpaceX Fires Up Private Rocket Friday Launch to Space Station

A private rocket has flexed its muscles in a key pre-launch test, firing up in preparation for lofting the next commercial cargo mission toward the International Space Station this Friday (March 1).

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocketsuccessfully executed a "static fire test" at around 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT) today (Feb. 25), igniting its engines for a few seconds but staying earthbound at its launchpad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"During the static fire test today, SpaceX engineers ran through all countdown processes as though it were launch day," company officials said in a statement. "All nine engines fired at full power for two seconds, while the Falcon 9 was held down to the pad. SpaceX will now conduct a thorough review of all data and continue preparations for Friday's targeted launch."

The Falcon 9 is slated to blast SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the space station Friday on the company's second contracted cargo run for NASA. Dragon will carry about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies and scientific experiments to the orbiting lab, then return to Earth on March 25 with 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of experiment samples and equipment, NASA officials have said. [How SpaceX's Dragon Space Capsule Works (Infographic)]

California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to make 12 such resupply flights with Dragon and the Falcon 9. Dragon first reached the space station on a historic demonstration mission last May, and the company then flew its initial contracted cargo flight in October.

NASA also inked a $1.9 billion deal with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. for eight cargo flights using the company's Antares rocket and unmanned Cygnus capsule. Orbital plans to fly a demonstration mission to the station later this year and successfully test fired the first stage if the Antares rocket last week, officials have said.

The two contracts are part of a NASA effort to encourage American private spaceshipsto fill the cargo- and crew-carrying void left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in July 2011.

The space agency hopes at least one commercial vehicle is able to carry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit by 2017.

SpaceX is in the running to win a NASA crew contract with a manned version of Dragon. The other major contenders are Boeing, which is developing its own capsule called the CST-100, and Sierra Nevada Corp., which is building a space plane called Dream Chaser.

Until one or more of these manned spaceships is operational, NASA will rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly its astronauts, at a cost of about $60 million per seat.

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SpaceX Fires Up Private Rocket for Friday Launch to Space Station

Feb. 25, 2013 The second International Space Station Commercial Resupply Services flight by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is set for liftoff at 10:10 a.m. EST on March 1 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Carried by a Falcon 9 rocket, the Dragon spacecraft will ferry 1,268 pounds of supplies for the space station crew and for experiments being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The Falcon 9 and Dragon were manufactured at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., and arrived at the Florida launch site by truck. The rocket, topped with the spacecraft, stands 157-feet tall.

The two-stage rocket uses nine engines to power the first stage, generating 855,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, rising to nearly 1,000,000 pounds of thrust as Falcon 9 climbs out of Earth's atmosphere. One engine powers the second stage to complete the climb to space. The 14.4-foot-tall Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying more than 7,000 pounds of cargo split between pressurized and unpressurized sections.

On March 2, Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA are scheduled use the station's robot arm to grapple Dragon following its rendezvous with the orbiting outpost. Ground commands will be sent to attach the spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module where it will remain for a few weeks while astronauts unload cargo. The crew then will load more than 2,600 pounds of experiment samples and equipment for return to Earth.

Dragon is scheduled for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California on March 25.

This SpaceX flight is the second of at least 12 missions to the space station that the company will fly for NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services contract.

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Second SpaceX space station resupply flight ready to go