Buoyed by the successful debut of its Falcon 9 rocket June 4, 2010, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Corp. CEO Elon Musk is hoping to persuade NASA to waive one of three planned test flights designed to prove its reusable Dragon capsule can ferry cargo to the international space station, reports Amy Klamper in SpaceNews. The first NASA COTS demonstration flight is now being scheduled for summer 2010.Under Musk’s proposal, SpaceX’s second COTS flight — a five-day mission during which Dragon would approach within 10 kilometers of the space station and exercise its radio cross-link to demonstrate the ability of the station’s crew to receive telemetry from the capsule and send commands — would be combined with the third and final COTS demo, in which Dragon is supposed to berth to the station for the first time.
Musk's goal is to accelerate the operational status of the Falcon 9 / Dragon capsule to carry cargo to the International Space Station as the space hardware proves worthy. If Musk gains the waiver, the first docking of the SpaceX Dragon capsule could come in the spring-summer of 2011.
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