PremiumBillionaire Elon Musk aerospace company SpaceX has fired up the rocket ahead of weekend Dragon cargo launch for NASA.
SpaceX conducted a static-fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center yesterday.
SpaceX is targeting Saturday, August 28 for Dragon’s launch of its 23rd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-23) mission. A backup launch opportunity is available on Sunday, the private aerospace company added.
Shortly after the test, SpaceX tweeted that the static fire test was a success and that the company planned to launch on Saturday as scheduled.
“Static fire test complete – targeting Saturday, August 28 at 3:37 a.m. EDT for Falcon 9 launch of Dragon’s 23rd cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS)," SpaceX wrote a tweet.
Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously supported SpaceX’s Crew-1 and Crew-2 missions, which launched astronauts to the International Space Station, and the launch of SXM-8.
The Dragon spacecraft will separate from Falcon 9’s second stage about twelve minutes after liftoff and autonomously dock to the space station on Sunday, August 29, SpaceX added.
The static fire test comes on the heels of a nearly two-month-long launch hiatus at Cape Canaveral. The last SpaceX launch to get off the ground was the Transporter-2 mission on June 30.
Earlier reports emerge that the SpaceX rocket launch might face delay as the company faced liquid oxygen shortages due to Covid-19 pandemic.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell had said that liquid oxygen shortages were making it more difficult to launch rockets - and that people should email her if they have some spare.
Liquid oxygen combined with cryogenic liquid methane, fuels SpaceX's raptor engines, which provide the thrust required for liftoff. It's also required in hospitals to treat patients infected with COVID-19.
However, after the reports of successful test fire on Thursday it seems that SpaceX has solved the problem.
