The move to New Mexico will allow SpaceX to test out its Grasshopper reusable rocket at higher altitudes. The last launch of the Grasshopper resulted in the rocket reaching a record altitude of 820 feet before slowly making its way back down and landing right where it launched in a perfectly upright position.

Spaceport America is owned by the state of New Mexico, so Elon Musk and company will pay the state $25,000 for each launch of the Grasshopper, as well as a $6,600 monthly “lease” fee to use a mobile mission control facility. However, this isn’t nearly as much as the $1 million-a-year fee that Virgin Galactic pays to use the facilities.

It’s not said what SpaceX’s plans are after the three-year deal is up, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the company built their own spaceport eventually. There’s been talks about it in the past, but nothing solid has been said about it yet. We can only assume that Musk has high hopes for the company in the future.

The last time the Grasshopper was test launched was last month on March 7, where the rocket soared roughly 263 feet in the air before making its way back to the ground. This time however, the Grasshopper ended up reaching 820 feet. The SpaceX team has constantly been working on the new rocket, and we expect more test launches in the future where we almost guarantee that the rocket will keep going higher and higher.

The Grasshopper has come quite a ways from when it conducted its first test launch, which only took the rocket 8.2 feet in the air before coming back down and landing on all fours. Seeing the rocket hover over the land at 820 feet is pretty surreal, especially considering that many people think of rockets as just going up and coming back down, crashing into the ocean. Whereas this rocket can be reused.

The SpaceX Grasshopper is a 10-story-tall Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle that the company designed in order to test the various technologies needed to build a full rocket that can return to Earth to be reused, instead of most rockets that are simply designed to burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry. SpaceX’s Grasshopper is being designed to return to the Earth and land vertically on all four of its legs.

However, not only will this test launch show whether or not Orbital is ready to deliver on its contract, it will also put Wallops Island into the spotlight as well. William Wrobel, director of the Wallops Island-based NASA facility hopes that this test launch will show that the facility is more than just a research facility, and that it is capable of doing “regular flights out of here to the space station”, just like the NASA facilities in Florida, California, and Texas.

During the test launch, the Antares rocket will carry a simulated version of the Cygnus capsule to an altitude of 155 to 185 miles above Earth. It will also be delivering 4 small satellites into orbit. If everything is successful, Orbital will be well on its way to a test launch of its Cygnus Capsule in November. The Cygnus capsule is expected to carry 5,952 pounds of supplies to the ISS.

Orbital is one of two private companies contracted by NASA, with the other being SpaceX. Orbital is still quite a ways behind SpaceX, because while its Cygnus capsule would burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere upon re-entry, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule can return to Earth just fine, and can also bring with it supplies, equipment, and science experiments from the ISS. Orbital has yet to complete one of its 8 required cargo missions, however SpaceX has already completed 2 out of its 12 missions required from its $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Orbital is mostly known for launching small satellites into space. It is also getting more into developing missile defense systems, with it completing around 50 launches for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Air Force, Army, and Navy. If the Antares rocket test launch is successful, it will also be diving into the medium-size rockets business. The Antares rocket test launch will also prove beneficial to the NASA’s Wallops Island facility as well. Virginia Officials believe that the publicity generated from the event will entice more space and tech companies to do business with them.

[via Washington Post]

Musk told reporters that SpaceX Dragon part 2 will have big windows so astronauts are able to have a better view, and that there will be side-mounted thruster pods on the capsule. He also said that there will be legs on the bottom of the capsule that will pop out for “land touchdowns”. He wants the capsule to be able to land on the ground instead of in the water. He states that he plans on unveiling the new design sometime later this year.

Musk also spoke with reporters yesterday about the SpaceX Dragon space capsule and the successful completion of its second cargo mission to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Dragon returned to Earth on March 26th, and made a safe splashdown onto the Pacific Ocean, around 214 miles off the coast of Baja California. The capsule brought back with it 2668 pounds of science samples and equipment.

[via Space.com]

The landing was called successful this morning and right around the full 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms) will be collected and studied into the future. One of the areas these particular samples are being used is in the study of long-lasting spaceflight’s impact on the human body. Another is the study of plants as they’ve been grown on the space station, these samples being set for aiding in growing better and more fruitful plants in the future both on the space station and here on our planet’s surface.

Also onboard the ship – and shipped back this month – were a collection of crystals grown aboard the ship. With these crystals, NASA scientists hope to aid in the development of new more efficient solar cells as well as semiconductor-based electronics. As NASA reminds us, the SpaceX capsule Dragon “is the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return to Earth intact.”

Elon Musk himself Tweeted at 11:59 AM CST that the recovery ship had secured Dragon. He went on to note that as they powered down all secondary systems, it was apparent that all cargo looked “A ok”. According to the official SpaceX Twitter account, the Dragon capsule made its splashdown at 9:34AM PST – now it’s time to watch the research and see SpaceX and NASA head upward once again!

[Photo via SpaceX]

Crewmembers aboard the ISS were able to grab hold of the supply ship using the space station’s robotic arm and dock the ship without further incident. The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship was expected to be attached to the space station for approximately a month while cargo was unloaded and other items were placed inside the capsule.

NASA has now announced that the Dragon spacecraft is set to depart the ISS and return to Earth on Monday. The space station is also set to receive three new crewmembers early next week. The Dragon module is currently attached to the international space Station Harmony module, where it has been docked the last three weeks.

The Dragon spacecraft will begin its release from the ISS at 5 AM Eastern on Monday. The Dragon capsule is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California around 1:20 PM Eastern time. The Dragon capsule carried 1268 pounds of supplies to the crew and will return with about 2668 pounds of cargo. Among the cargo, are the results of experiments that tested how life and microgravity would affect the growth of plant seedlings and changes to the human body.

[via PC Mag]

SpaceX has announced that the Merlin 1D has achieved flight qualification status, which the company says is a “major milestone” for the next-generation Merlin engine. The engine had to go through 28 different tests, and it accumulated 1,970 seconds of total test time (just under 33 minutes), which SpaceX says is the equivalent run time of “over 10 full mission durations.”

The engine is now fully qualified to power the Falcon 9 rocket, which is the rocket that has taken the Dragon capsule up to the International Space Station several times now. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that the company plans to equip the Falcon 9 with Merlin 1D engines sometime this year during another resupply mission to the ISS.

The Merlin 1D is equipped on SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket, which was recently demonstrated on video hovering over the ground and then safely landing on the tarmac. The rocket was able to hover just over 260 feet above the ground, which is over the twice the distance that the rocket was able to achieve back in December.

The SpaceX Grasshopper was tested at the company’s rocket development facility located in McGregor, Texas. The Grasshopper has come a long way since its first test, where it only flew up about 8.2 feet. SpaceX is also improving Grasshopper’s landing, with this latest test showing Grasshopper’s most accurate landing results as of late. This is all progress for SpaceX, who wants to be able to create a rocket that can survive re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere and be able to land back on the launch pad intact.

Elon Musk has high hopes for SpaceX’s reusable rockets. He believes that reusable rockets will provide a “hundred-fold decrease in the cost of space flight”, and that they will open up the possibility of humanity becoming a multi-planetary species. He says that it isn’t the cost of fuel and oxygen that’s holding back the future of space travel, but the wasted cost of having to throw away a rocket after one use.

SpaceX hopes to get more businesses interested in the space industry. With demonstrations like these, the company hopes to get businesses excited about the future of space travel, which would result in more funding for future projects. Currently, 1/4 of SpaceX’s launches are composed of NASA assignments, while the other 3/4 are for commercial use. With the advancement of creating reusable rockets, Musk hopes that in his lifetime, man will have stepped foot on Mars at least once.

[via Space Answers]

Musk says that fuel and oxygen are hardly the biggest costs of space travel. They only amount to 0.9% of the total cost of the rocket. If SpaceX is able to create a reusable rocket, they would be able to provide a “massive hundred-fold derease in the cost of space flight.” Musk says that SpaceX’s goal has been to expand humanity beyond Earth and turn it into a “multi-planetary species.” He continues to say that all other forms of transportation that humans use are reusable, so why not rockets?

The idea of SpaceX came to Musk when he was trying to donate money to NASA. He wanted NASA to start a greenhouse on Mars that would show that life could exist on that planet. Musk hoped that the project would increase NASA’s federal budget. He had this idea where there’d be a greenhouse on Mars with “green plants on red background”, which would be the “money shot”. The project fell through, but because of it, SpaceX was born.

SpaceX is now very successful, with 1/4 of its launches being for NASA, and the other 3/4 being for commercial businesses. Musk says that the main goals of SpaceX was to get people “excited, and sending (things) to Mars, and increasing NASA’s budget. Today NASA’s our biggest customer.” SpaceX is also working on building a commercial space port in Brownsville Texas, making it the third launch site for the company. There are just some legislative barriers the company has to go through before it can begin working on the project.

[via VentureBeat]

Dragon didn’t go up into space empty-handed. Onboard the reusable craft there’s almost 1,300 pounds of cargo, including scientific experiments, new equipment, and supplies for the astronauts currently living on the space station. They’ll all be offloaded, and then Dragon packed up with a return load of equipment and spent supplies before beginning its journey back to Earth at the end of the month.

At one point, however, the whole mission looked to be on shaky ground. After a successful takeoff on Friday, shedding the first and second stage rockets, Dragon’s thruster pods did not react as they were meant to. That meant the all-important solar arrays could not be unfurled.

“Falcon 9 lifted off as planned and experienced a nominal flight” SpaceX told us in a statement. “After Dragon achieved orbit, the spacecraft experienced an issue with a propellant valve. ”

After some remote tinkering, all four of the pods were triggered and the craft could make its way to the ISS. Final approach began at 2am EST, with the actual grapple coming early at 5:31am EST.

Dragon will be bringing new equipment and supplies to the folks at the ISS, and it will bring back to Earth some materials as well. This is the 3rd time Dragon has been launched, and it has about 9 more rounds to do this year due to SpaceX’s agreement with NASA. The great thing about Dragon is that it’s re-usable, so it has many more uses before it needs to be replaced.

The capture of Dragon will be done by NASA Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn. The two astronauts will use the station’s robotic arm to grab Dragon. Dragon will then be installed onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module by mission control at Houston. Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield will finalize the grab by bolting Dragon into place using commands.

SpaceX states that there will not be another problem with Dragon’s thrusters, and that Dragon will be returning to Earth on its original arrival date, Monday, March 25th. Despite the issues that delayed its arrival to the ISS, SpaceX reports that everything is operating normally. You can watch Dragon dock at the ISS through SpaceX’s live webcast. The webcast will start streaming at 6:00AM EST/3:00AM PST.

[via NASA]

There, Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA had been expecting to snatch it from the sky with the station’s robotic arm. The exact issues around the problem are unclear at this point.

After 3:14, the first stage rockets detached – you can see the assembly dropping away in the left half of the image below – leaving the second stage rockets to push the capsule further out of the atmosphere. At 9:30 after launch, Dragon had reached orbit, with the capsule detaching from the second stage around 45s later.

However, a few minutes after that point, the launch veered from the original plan. The video stream switched from Dragon back to the second stage, and then SpaceX cut the webcast, with a spokesperson saying that an unexpected problem had affected the capsule and that the team would be working on figuring out what was happening.

As well as food and other essentials for the ISS crew, the Dragon capsule is packed with scientific experiments, including both biological and physics tests. On the biology side, there’ll be experiments to see how plant cells react in low-oxygen environments, as well as in microgravity, which NASA says will be instrumental in developing potential food sources for longer trips, such as to Mars.

On the physics side, there’ll be tests to see how molten metals solidify in microgravity, which could potentially open the door to new types of materials. Procter & Gamble is also funding some research, into how microscopic particles clump and gather in liquids and gels.

SpaceX and NASA will hold a press conference in several hours time to discuss the issues Dragon is facing.

Update: We’re hearing that the problem is that the solar panels on the Dragon capsule did not unfurl as expected, though we’re yet to see official confirmation on that from either NASA or SpaceX.

Update 2: SpaceX’s Elon Musk has tweeted that there is an “Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.”

Update 3: SpaceX has given us the following statement:

“One thruster pod is running. Two are preferred to take the next step which is to deploy the solar arrays.  We are working to bring up the other two in order to plan the next series of burns to get to station.”

Update 4: Elon Musk has tweeted that “Thruster pod 3 tank pressure trending positive” and that SpaceX is “preparing to deploy solar arrays.”

Update 5: “Solar array deployment successful” Elon Musk has tweeted.

Update 6: SpaceX gave us the following follow-up statement on its progress:

“Falcon 9 lifted off as planned and experienced a nominal flight. After Dragon achieved orbit, the spacecraft experienced an issue with a propellant valve. One thruster pod is running. We are trying to bring up the remaining three. We did go ahead and get the solar arrays deployed. Once we get at least 2 pods running, we will begin a series of burns to get to station.”

The unloading process itself should take several weeks, with the SpaceX 2 Dragon capsule then being loaded back up for the return journey. That’s expected to see in excess of 2,600 of experiment samples and other kit being delivered back to Earth, with an eventual splashdown in the Pacific that’s pencilled in for March 25.

SpaceX ran a test burn on February 25 to check the mission’s nine initial rocket engines were up to scratch. Together, they put out 855,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, though that figure rises to almost 1m once outside of the atmosphere. The Dragon won’t be overloaded, though; it’s actually capable of transporting over twice the amount of cargo it will return carrying.

SpaceX completed its first resupply mission to the ISS back in October 2012, part of an ongoing agreement with NASA to make twelve such journeys. In the pipeline, meanwhile, is the potential for manned use of the Dragon capsules, with SpaceX planning to put its own staff in orbit by 2015.

NASA is focused on today’s launch, however, and says that there’s an 80-percent favorable weather forecast; “there is only a slight possibility that thick clouds and liftoff winds could prevent launch” the space agency says. You can watch the whole thing at NASA Television from 8:30am EST.

SpaceX is the work of Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk, who has been in the news himself recently over a debacle with the Model S car and the New York Times. However, he’ll soon be focusing his energy on the third launch of the Dragon capsule in less than a year, which will dock to the ISS, the first private company to accomplish such a feat.

While three times in less than a year may seem like a lot of space flights, SpaceX has signed an agreement with NASA to do 12 re-supply missions to the ISS using the Dragon capsule. The spacecraft itself is a reusable capsule that is able to be reused over and over again many times before SpaceX will have to replace it.

After the launch, and once the capsule starts to get closer to the ISS, astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn will use the station’s robotic arm to catch the capsule and bring it in for docking. The capsule is planned to take over 2,300 pounds of experiment samples and equipment back to Earth on March 25.

SpaceX is taking this step as a way to demonstrate that its Dragon and Falcon 9 are safe and ready to carry NASA crew members into space. NASA is likewise enthusiastic about the mission, stating that it wants to know when these companies are ready to fly their own crew at their own risk. Unlike its historic unmanned mission to the ISS, this flight will not dock at the station. Likewise, it is being reported that the vessel will stay in space for a minimum of three days.

When asked if he would be part of the crew that SpaceX sends into orbit, Reisman offered this statement. “I did not come to SpaceX specifically … with the intent of going back to space. What’s important to me is that I can look myself in the mirror … [and say] that the risk is acceptable for me to fly.”

NASA has been pursuing commercial companies, having had to utilize Russia for sending astronauts into space after the space shuttle was retired. Commercial companies will save the U.S. a substantial amount of money, but aren’t quite at the point they need to be yet. By sending a crew into space, SpaceX will demonstrate its abilities while taking a big step towards ushering in a new future of space exploration.

[via Orlando Sentinel]

For now, rockets make a crash landing into the ocean, never to be used again. Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to shirk that reality, however, and utilize rockets that both take off and land vertically, allowing them to be reused. The Grasshopper has been shown off a total of three times now by SpaceX, the latest of which you can see in the video below.

While the rocket didn’t hit its target of at least a few hundred feet, it did improve over the last time we saw it. The rocket hovers in the air for a bit before gliding back down into place; the first time around, it did little more than bounce briefly into the air. The test was conducted in McGregor, Texas, on December 17, and was followed up by an announcement tweet by Elon Musk on Twitter.

This comes after SpaceX managed to score a contract with the United States Air Force on December 6. With the contract, SpaceX will get the chance to run two missions, during which it will get to demonstrate its space vehicles as part of the EELV program. The missions are slated to take place in 2014 and 2015.

[via TPM]

These are the first EELV missions the company has scored, and they will take place in 2014 and 2015. The first mission is the Deep Space Climate Obervatory, DSCOVR for short, and the second is the Space Test Program 2, also known as STP-2. Both will be launched via SpaceX’s Falcon vehicles, marking a monumental occasion for the company.

DSCOVR will take off via a Falcon 9 in late 2014, with the STP-2 following shortly after in the middle of 2015 via a Falcon Heavy. Presently, they’re both slated to launch from the Space Launch Complex 40, although that could change as the time nears. Both DSCOVR and STP-2 are OSP-3 (Orbital/Suborbital Program-3) missions, which is a USAF contract meant to given new entries into the EELV a chance to strut their stuff.

SpaceX’s Chief Executive and Chief Designer Elon Musk offered this statement. “SpaceX deeply appreciates and is honored by the vote of confidence shown by the Air Force in our Falcon launch vehicles. We look forward to providing high reliability access to space with lift capability to orbit that is substantially greater than any other launch vehicle in the world.”

[via SpaceX]

Musk’s vision includes starting off with a pioneering group of around 10 people or less, and they would get to the Red Planet aboard a huge reusable rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane. Going along for the ride would be large amounts of equipment, including machines to make fertilizer, methane, and oxygen. The machines would use the atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide, as well as the planet’s subsurface water ice as resources.

Musk estimates that the cost of a ticket to Mars would be around $500,000. Obviously, there’s not a huge pool of people who can afford that, but Musk says that out of the eight billion people that will be living on Earth by the time the colony is possible, around one in 100,000 could afford to go (and would be willing to do so), which equates to potentially 80,000 people who could colonize Mars.

Musk is the billionaire founder behind a few well-known companies. He helped start up PayPal, and then moved on to establish Tesla Motors. Now, he’s the founder and CEO of SpaceX, which recently completed a supply mission to the International Space Station. Musk’s envisions his plans for the future of space flight as something that has never been done before, and he hopes to create a completely reusable spacecraft for as little as money as possible. The Dragon capsule was a good start, but Musk says he wants to create a better spacecraft for human flight.

[via Discovery]

Image via Flickr

HP’s PC chief took some time out of his day to talk some smack about Microsoft Surface, while Google started sending out emails that said some Nexus 4 orders have been placed on backorder for three weeks. We learned today that 4G LTE networks are surprisingly easy to bring down, and Dell’s earnings for Q3 are showing a pretty big decline year-over-year. Usage of Microsoft’s SkyDrive has doubled in six months (and there are new features on the way), while a new survey is telling us that consumer demand for Windows 8 is a little on the low side.

We learned that the Steve Jobs biopic will be comprised of a collection of pre-keynote footage, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk talked about the future of space exploration. Steve Ballmer had some harsh words for the likes of Android and Apple today, while we learned that thieves made off with a shipment of 3,600 iPad minis. The HTC Deluxe was leaked today, leading us believe that it’s the international version of the HTC DROID DNA, and a new augmented reality game called Google Ingress was officially revealed.

Microsoft will be holding Windows Store app labs in 30 different cities to help Windows 8 developers make apps for the new OS, Xbox Live celebrated its 10th birthday. Spotify confirmed that its web app beta is rolling out to select number of users today, and Bethesda shared a bunch of new screenshots from its upcoming Dragonborn DLC. Finally tonight, Don Reisinger asks why the music industry seems to dislike fairness, while we go hands-on with the new Samsung Galaxy Camera – it’s a cool little device, so you’re not going to want to miss that one! That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

Musk mentioned that he thought about a manned mission to Mars in the early 2000s, and imagined building a small greenhouse on the surface of Mars, which would be packed with dehydrated nutrient gel that could be hydrated on landing. Musk said the rockets to get there would’ve cost $130 million alone, and he says the reason why there hasn’t been a manned mission to mars is because there isn’t cheap enough rocket technology.

However, Musk mentions that SpaceX is getting better at bringing the cost of rockets down significantly, almost by a factor of 10. Specifically, the company’s Dragon spacecraft, which was recently sent to the ISS, is actually an early prototype of the spacecraft that may one day head to Mars. Musk says that the current Dragon spacecraft wouldn’t have been able to land on Mars, but he says that the 2nd-generation capsule, which is expected to be completed in three years or so, is aiming to have that capability.

Musk also discusses reusable spacecrafts. He says “it’s the fundamental thing that’s necessary for humanity to become a space-faring civilization. America would never have been colonized if ships weren’t reusable.” He mentions that the Space Shuttle wasn’t actually truly reusable, since the main fuel tank was always thrown away and a new one was used for every launch. Musk is dedicated to building and improving on a truly reusable spacecraft, where every part of the ship can be reused, which Musk says will significantly reduce cost-per-launch factors.

[via Wired]

Image via Flickr

Then, at about 3:20 PM Eastern this afternoon, Dragon will splash down in the Pacific ocean, 250 miles off the coast of Baja California. The capsule carried 882 pounds of supplies with it to the space station, but it will be returning with even more. When Dragon reaches Earth, it will be packed with 1,673 pounds of stuff, which includes “163 pounds of crew supplies, 866 pounds of scientific research, and 518 pounds of vehicle hardware and other hardware.”

Those 866 pounds of scientific research include things like urine and blood samples taken aboard the International Space Station, and they’ll need be returned to NASA within 48 hours of Dragon’s splashdown for testing. The hardware that’s being returned to NASA include defective parts from the Space Station, which will need to be examined by scientists here on the ground. Make no mistake, Dragon has a lot of important stuff on board, so here’s hoping that everything goes as planned this afternoon.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule has been attached to the International Space Station since October 10. There were a couple hiccups with the launch, but Dragon made it to ISS intact – though those hiccups did have some unintended consequences for a satellite carried into space on the back of the Falcon 9 rocket. Be sure to check out our story timeline below for more on the SpaceX Dragon!

[via NASA]

However, SpaceX and Orbcomm ran into a significant problem when one of the nine Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9 rocket shut down early following launch on October 7. The single rocket engine shutting down early meant that the satellite failed to reach the orbital altitude required. Orbcomm has now announced that the satellite has fallen out of orbit and burned up in the atmosphere during reentry.

Orbcomm did have a $10 million insurance policy in place that would “largely offset” the loss of the satellite and the cost of the launch. Interestingly, the Falcon 9 rocket had enough fuel to relight like the engine that shut down early, but the remaining liquid oxygen gave only 95% chance that the rocket would complete its second burn.

Since NASA’s ISS payload was the primary payload on the mission NASA requirements stipulated that if there wasn’t at least a 99% chance that the rocket had enough fuel to complete the second burn, the engine could not be restarted. Orbcomm said that it believes if its satellite had been the primary payload on the mission the prototype would’ve reached the orbit required.

“Orbcomm understood from the beginning that the orbit-raising maneuver was tentative,” SpaceX spokeswoman Katherine Nelson wrote. “They accepted that there was a high risk of their satellite remaining at the Dragon insertion orbit. SpaceX would not have agreed to fly their satellite otherwise, since this was not part of the core mission and there was a known, material risk of no altitude raise.”

[via Reuters]

This mission unloaded 882 pounds of cargo with the help of Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide. It wasn’t only work and transfers that the two astronauts uncovered in the capsule – ice cream was stashed by NASA and SpaceX before the craft took off from Earth and was also discovered today by the team. It’s a rare treat that the team will partake in, this aside the space food they’re generally set to eat – that being prepackaged food that’s able to be kept for many months at a time at room temperature.

This novelty adds to the great joy that’s been felt at the success of this mission thus far, it being the first successful supply mission ever lead to the International Space Station by a privatized group. SpaceX led a test mission earlier this year with similar results.

It’s Michael Interbartolo who shares this transfer of cargo between the Dragon capsule and the ISS – the process set to take place over the course of 18 days, with both loading and unloading occurring. The capsule will be bringing back 1,673 pounds of cargo back to Earth, quite a bit of this being material that’s taken part in studies done on the space station over the past collection of months. Have a peek at the gallery here and get pumped up about the splashdown on the 28th of October!

The successful docking happened at 9:03 AM Eastern time, and it marks the first time a private American spacecraft has been sent to the ISS. Station commander Sunita Williams says, “Looks like we’ve tamed the Dragon. We’re happy she’s onboard with us. Thanks to everyone at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her to us…and the ice cream.”

The SpaceX Dragon capsule carried almost 1,000 pounds of supplies as it made the journey to the ISS some 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Along for the ride was chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream and materials to make Silly Putty, which will certainly be a fun experiment for the astronauts as they find out what space-made Silly Putty will act like compared to down on Earth.

The capsule is expected to spend at least three weeks at the International Space Station, and will be filled with around 2,000 pounds of cargo for the return trip, which will include experiment results and other station gear. The capsule is expected to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near southern California on October 28.

The entire process took place with both ISS and Dragon roughly 252 miles above the western coast of the United States, with the 58 foot long robotic arm attaching to a special plate on the capsule itself. That then allows it to be pulled into place on the space station’s dock.

Inside, there’s roughly 882 pounds of cargo, predominantly new supplies for the astronauts and new scientific experiments. However, there also proved to be some space for fripperies; there’s ice cream and Silly Putty in there too.

“Thanks everyone at NASA and SpaceX for bringing her to us… and the ice cream” astronaut Suni Williams said in the moments after the successful grab. Williams will be responsible for bringing Dragon into its berth.

Monday’s launch didn’t go entirely to plan, despite Dragon reaching the ISS successfully. A “tiny explosion” of one of the nine engines on the Falcon rocket forced the remaining rockets to compensate; unfortunately it also meant that a satellite intended to be released, the Orbcomm OG2, did not get deployed.

The CRS-1 mission will be the first of several resupply flights SpaceX is contracted to perform for NASA over the next twelve months. You can rewatch the docking process at SpaceX’s site.

On the ISS itself, meanwhile, astronaut Sunita Williams has been shown running through the robotic arm controls in preparation for the mission. ”Dragon slayers! Practiced approach & grapple, set up & tested the comm system last week for today’s snare of the #Dragon. Wish us luck!” Williams tweeted earlier today.

The capsule is the first of a series of resupply missions SpaceX is contracted to undertake for NASA, replacing the regular flights of the now-decommissioned Space Shuttles to the International Space Station. Launched on Monday, and making it to the orbiting platform despite a catastrophic engine failure, Dragon contains around 1,000 of cargo including Silly Putty and ice cream.

After it has been unloaded, the ISS crew will pack the Dragon capsule with a return load of spent experiments and other unneeded kit, and return it to Earth. SpaceX is already working on a second version of Dragon which will accommodate human passengers.

You can watch the docking process at nasa.gov/ntv.

Didn’t know that the Falcon 9 rocket was also carrying a satellite? You’d be forgiven, considering that it wasn’t talked about all that often before the Dragon’s launch last night. The plan was to have the satellite launch into orbit after leaving Earth’s atmosphere on the back of the Falcon 9, but apparently, the OG2 missed its target because of the engine loss.

Orbcomm said in a statement today that the satellite was launched into a lower orbit than what was intended – NBC News reports that instead of the planned 350-by-750-kilometer orbit, the OG2 satellite is now in a 203-by-323-kilometer orbit. Orbcomm said today that it, along with engineers from the Sierra Nevada Corporation, are currently in contact with the satellite to see if they can get the OG2 to rise in orbit, and if such a move is even possible in the first place.

This was the first of 18 OG2 satellites that will be carried into space aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. By mid-2013, 8 more of these satellites will be in space, while the rest will be carried out of Earth’s atmosphere by 2014. The first satellite launch is off to something of a rocky start, so here’s hoping that the subsequent 17 launches will go a little bit better.

We also had plenty of news about SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which launched for the ISS yesterday. The launch went well despite a rocket blowout, and we learned that the capsule is carrying – among other things – ice cream and silly putty to the space station. Later on in the day, SpaceX released a statement about the minor problems on the launch pad, telling us that the mission should still go as planned. We heard that 10 million iPad Minis are on order, despite the fact that we don’t know for sure that it exists yet, and today Google started calling for more tablet-friendly apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S III was named T-Mobile’s best-selling device of all time today, and speaking of T-Mobile, the carrier received the LG Optimus L9 today as well. A 32GB Nexus 7 model was accidentally shipped to one lucky Japanese customer, and Microsoft has launched free Wi-Fi in both New York City and San Francisco. Windows 8 PCs started showing up early on HSN’s website today, and Microsoft released a Kinect SDK for Windows 8 too. Microsoft has apparently dropped its “Live” branding from its Windows 8 launch, and T-Mobile looks primed to receive iPhone 5 owners with a new NanoSIM delivery.

After being teased last week, Rovio revealed Angry Birds Star Wars today, an announcement that was quickly followed by additional details. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is available for pre-order on Steam today, while Blizzard told us that a World of Warcraft hack that allowed one player to murder others one city at a time has been patched. Pokemon Black and White 2 launched yesterday, and PETA has something to say about it, while Nokia announced that its new Lumia 810 will be bringing the Windows Phone 8 touch to T-Mobile.

That about does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, but before we part ways, we have one original story to cover: Chris Burns tells us why Nokia will need to push its graphic design abilities when it comes to making Windows Phone 8 a success. Enjoy the rest your night folks!

The ice cream is being kept in a special refrigerator that has a freezer that can reach temperatures as low as -300 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the ice cream isn’t your usual freeze-dried ice cream that normally goes into space. This is actual ice cream from Blue Bell Creameries in Texas, and it was also aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2006.

Materials to make Silly Putty are also on their way to the ISS. The Silly Putty will be made by the astronauts while in space to see whether or not Silly Putty can be made in space in the first place. If so, experimenters will want to know how it differs from the regular, Earth-made version of the stuff. It’s hypothesized that the space-made Silly Putty will be possible to make, but its viscosity is expected to be different from the Silly Putty we all know and love.

The SpaceX Dragon launched last night at 8:30pm EDT in Cape Canaveral, Florida, which has been the site of tons of Space Shuttle launches in the past. However, the launch didn’t go entirely smoothly. Roughly 80 seconds after the launch, one of Falcon 9′s nine engines failed, but the remaining rockets carried on and were undeterred. The rocket’s systems compensated for the loss in thrust and the capsule will be able to reach orbit safely.

[via LA Times]

The situation we’re seeing here is what SpaceX calls an “anomaly”, assuring us that the ship is indeed in orbit around the Earth now and that the explosion wasn’t something they were alarmed about as it happened nor now. What you can see looks a lot more serious than SpaceX is making it out to be, that being a burst of flame and a collection of debris falling from the rocket as it continues on its course.

UPDATE: SpaceX has released the following statement on the situation, assuring the public that the mission will continue as planned, and that there wasn’t actually an explosion at all – all is well!

The Dragon spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station this morning and is performing nominally following the launch of the SpaceX CRS-1 official cargo resupply mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 8:35PM ET Sunday, October 7, 2012.

Approximately one minute and 19 seconds into last night’s launch, the Falcon 9 rocket detected an anomaly on one first stage engine. Initial data suggests that one of the rocket’s nine Merlin engines, Engine 1, lost pressure suddenly and an engine shutdown command was issued immediately. We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it. Our review indicates that the fairing that protects the engine from aerodynamic loads ruptured due to the engine pressure release, and that none of Falcon 9’s other eight engines were impacted by this event.

As designed, the flight computer then recomputed a new ascent profile in real time to ensure Dragon’s entry into orbit for subsequent rendezvous and berthing with the ISS. This was achieved, and there was no effect on Dragon or the cargo resupply mission.

Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do. Like the Saturn V, which experienced engine loss on two flights, Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission.

We will continue to review all flight data in order to understand the cause of the anomaly, and will devote the resources necessary to identify the problem and apply those lessons to future flights. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Dragon is expected to begin its approach to the station on October 10, where it will be grappled and berthed by Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA. Over the following weeks, the crew will unload Dragon’s payload and reload it with cargo to be returned to Earth. Splashdown is targeted for October 28

This craft also works with the Falcon 9, projecting the Dragon capsule into space with nine engines. It’s designed so that if any one of its nine engines should fail, the on-board computers will instantly detect it and act. When a failure occurs, the fuel supply will be cut and the unused propellant will be distributed to the remaining engines, this allowing them to burn longer.

Because these engines were also designed to minimize damage to one another should one of them fail, it appears that one one of the nine was knocked out in the anomaly. SpaceX has assured that they’d be providing more information on the exact situation as it unfolds throughout the day [SEE ABOVE]. We must assume at this point that the mission will continue without delay as SpaceX doesn’t appear to have their feathers ruffled too much – stay tuned!

The launch itself took place at 8:30pm EDT from Cape Canaveral, though wasn’t entirely smooth. At T+80 seconds – roughly 1:30 into the video below – one of Falcon 9′s nine engines suffered some sort of failure, but the remaining rockets were undamaged and the systems compensated for the loss in thrust, meaning the Dragon capsule could still reach orbit.

SpaceX CRS-1 Launch to International Space Station:

On Wednesday, Dragon will fly up to the ISS and be snatched up by the space station’s robotic arm, manned by station commander Suni Williams. It contains 1,000 pounds of materials, which will be unloaded and replaced – over the course of around three weeks – with near 2,000 pounds of used materials and completed experiments that are to be shuttled back to Earth.

SpaceX CRS-1 Falcon 9 and Dragon Go Vertical:

Since NASA mothballed the Space Shuttles, it has been reliant on other countries to run service missions to the ISS, as well as to transport US astronauts to the orbiting station. However, plans have been in progress for some time to replace the Space Shuttle program with a more cost-effective and manageable alternative, of which SpaceX’s Dragon is one example. NASA has awarded SpaceX a $1.6bn deal for the dozen unmanned missions it will fly over the space of roughly a year.

Beyond that, however, SpaceX is also working on its manned capsule mission, part of a further $1.1bn investment by NASA. The company finalized its design review of the so-called second design back in July, the passenger-capable version of Dragon.

The mission will be taking place at 8:35 PM PST on October 7th (tonight) 2012 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This mission will take place just miles away from NASA’s own space shuttle launch pads and the Dragon capsule will – if all goes as planned – join the ISS three days after taking off. Propelling the capsule into space will be SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket – the first stage of this takeoff includes kerosene and oxygen-powered Merlin engines.

The second stage include a single Merlin engine that will make a boost of the Dragon into its orbit which will lead it directly to the station. A pair of solar arrays will be deploying from the Dragon capsule just 11 minutes after it’s been put into orbit. Controllers on Earth will then begin testing rendezvous sensors galore. Video below shows a successful Static Fire test conducted last month for the CRS-1 mission we’re seeing today:

The Dragon capsule will spend right around three weeks connected to the station while supplies are taken out, then it’ll return to Earth. Supplies include a freezer for the station’s scientific samples, a powered middeck locker, and a collection of materials for the astronauts currently living on the station. The locker contains an experiment that NASA is not disclosing at this time.

The mission capsule will be returning with more than a ton (literally) of scientific samples collected at the station. Also included will be hardware used by the engineers up unto this point. This mission’s Dragon capsule will be joined in the future by the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket, both of them due for demonstration later this year – get pumped up!

[via NASA]

In other words, this is a pretty big launch. The Dragon capsule will leave Earth attached to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 8:35 PM EST time tomorrow evening, and should arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday, October 10. NASA officials and SpaceX founder Elon Musk met today to give the mission the greenlight for launch.

Once it’s been attached to the ISS, the Dragon capsule will spend a couple weeks in orbit before undocking on October 28 and heading back to Earth. When it splashes down in the Pacific, it will be carrying around 1,400 pounds of experiment supplies and ISS hardware that needs to be returned to NASA. This is the first of 12 planned cargo transport missions that will use the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket.

If you’re interested in watching this liftoff, SPACE.com says that NASA will be broadcasting the launch through its television channel. If you don’t get NASA TV, you can watch a live stream of the event on NASA TV’s website. Everything should go according to plan tomorrow – NASA says there’s a 60% chance of good weather for the launch – but if the launch needs to be delayed for some reason, NASA and SpaceX will be trying it again on October 8 and October 9. Keep it tuned to SlashGear for more information, because we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on tomorrow’s Dragon launch.

Boeing takes away the biggest purse, with $460m, while SpaceX is shortly behind with $440. Sierra Nevada grabs $212.5m. All three companies will need to demonstrate that their craft can meet NASA’s full mission safety requirements, with certification expected to take place in a future phase of the program.

“NASA will build on its rich human spaceflight history by investing in commercial development of fully integrated crew transportation system designs under the next round of funded SAAs, Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap)” NASA

NASA’s three selected partners narrows the field down from seven in the previous round, which together shared a $50m bounty. SpaceX is the furthest along so far, having already managed to dock its unmanned Dragon capsule with the International Space Station earlier this year.

“This is a decisive milestone in human spaceflight and sets an exciting course for the next phase of American space exploration,” SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk said in a statement today. “SpaceX, along with our partners at NASA, will continue to push the boundaries of space technology to develop the safest, most advanced crew vehicle ever flown.”

Musk says that SpaceX aims to undertake a manned flight by 2015, outfitting Dragon with seats for seven astronauts and “the most technically advanced launch escape system ever developed” that will include abort possibilities whether on the launch pad or in orbit. There will also be a propulsive landing system for ground touchdowns on the capsule’s legs.

The Commercial Crew Program isn’t the only project NASA has on the go to push the limits of space flight, however. Operating in parallel is development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle spacecraft and Space Launch System, a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket that, the agency says, “will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.”

This video shows highlights, not quite the whole mission. The mission itself took place over the course of a little over a week, starting on the 22nd of May and ending on May 31st. This journey starts with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the Dragon spacecraft off into orbit from Cape Canaveral and quickly heads to the Dragon orbiting Earth as it lined up good and ready to attach to the ISS.

On the 24th of May, two days after launch, NASA gave the go-ahead for the Dragon to attempt berthing with the space station. This was one of the most teeth-clenching moments of the mission as once the spacecraft connected, all would be well. On May 26, our good pal Don Pettit officially opened the Dragon’s hatch and the astronauts entered – mission successful!

Then of course, as SpaceX retells so elegantly:

May 31: After six days at the International Space Station, Dragon departed for its return to Earth, carrying a load of cargo for NASA. SpaceX completed its historic mission when Dragon splashed down safely in the Pacific.

Check out the rest of our SpaceX news from this launch in the timeline below, and stay tuned for more awesome space action!

The key focus for the review was safety with SpaceX presenting NASA with an analysis of how the SuperDraco launch abort system would perform in an emergency. While SpaceX has completed its design review for the Dragon capsule, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson has announced that the company’s first spaceflight will be a family affair.

Branson has announced that his two adult children will join him on Virgin Galactic’s first space flight next year. The flight will take Branson and his two adult children 62 miles above the Earth aboard SpaceshipTwo. Branson and his company have about 120 other tourists signed up to take the $200,000 two-hour trip into space.

[via Yahoo and Sacbee]

The rocket engine demonstrated the ability to achieve “the full duration and power required for a Falcon 9 rocket launch.” The successful test clears the way for the engine to continue development with the goal of being deployed in the real world at some point in 2013. The new engine uses fewer parts and more robotic construction techniques than the older engine.

The older engine SpaceX used was part of the successful mission to the ISS recently. SpaceX was kind enough to record the test so we can watch the flaming glory and the future of the company’s private space program. The test lasted 185 seconds.

[via The Verge]

SpaceX has a full schedule ahead with NASA contracts that will see the company deploying 55 launches over the next five years. It will get paid $133 million per each mission, which will mainly be for commercial satellites, netting the company over $4 billion in revenue. On a side note, SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk, who co-founded PayPal and Tesla Motors.

The last mission blasted off using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, delivering its Dragon capsule to the ISS and back. The Dragon capsule can be equipped for cargo or for a crew, the latter of which is the company’s next target. SpaceX is hoping to transport astronauts to and from space by 2015.

While this mission currently does hold the record for being the first mission of its kind, we do have yet to see “a few more things” as NASA‘s Alan Lindenmoyer notes, “we’re going to have to see the cargo [before we can assure] 100 percent success.” The Dragon space pod landed several hundred miles off the coast of California near Baja, having taken off this morning from the International Space Station at aproximately 2:29 AM PST according to NASA.

It took just 5 hours for the Dragon to make its full descent from the ISS down to the earth, with de-orbit burn starting at 7:15 AM PST. At 45,000 feet the parachutes embedded within the Dragon craft were deployed, and at 8:42 AM PST the craft successfully splashed into the Pacific.

This successful mission has SpaceX looking very good, as does it have NASA looking up (as they always do) toward more missions with the private company. The company currently has 12 cargo missions on contract with NASA in the future with un-manned craft while they continue to develop a manned version of the Dragon for some time in the distant future.

Check out our timeline below to see all the SpaceX action as it took place – and congratulate both NASA and SpaceX on their great success!

[via Wired]

The Dragon capsule was then moved away from the ISS using the robotic arm that captured it last week. The Dragon capsule will bring a heavier load home than it took to the space station to begin with. The inside of the capsule is packed with old equipment and scientific samples. Dragon is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean about noon Eastern time today.

The target location for splashdown is roughly 560 miles southwest of Los Angeles, California. SpaceX and its Dragon capsule has become the first private company to send a cargo ship to the ISS. Barring any incidents today, the return mission will also make SpaceX the only company capable of returning samples and major items to earth from the ISS.

[via ABC]