SpaceX's Dragon ship set for station visit (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News

The first cargo resupply mission to the space station to be carried out by a commercial operator is likely to be on 30 April, the US space agency says.

The flight of the unmanned Dragon freighter is supposed to be just a demonstration, but its success would mark a new era in spaceflight.

Nasa is keen to hand off routine space transportation to the private sector - for both cargo and crew.

The upcoming mission will be performed by the SpaceX company of California.

It has been given tentative clearance to launch Dragon on 30 April at 12:22 EDT (16:22 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17732480

[johnd83]

1. The SpaceX technology is quite impressive

I really think that it would be great to have private companies launch payloads for NASA instead of trying to do it in-house. I don't normally agree with privatization, but NASA has limited resources, and if a couple competing companies are available to do what are at this point routine launches it will free them up to cutting edge research. NASA should not be doing stuff that is understood and routine. They should focus on the unknown and developing new technologies like ion drives and advanced radiation shielding.

[bananas]

2. Here's the full schedule - rendezvous is May 3

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/apr/M12-070_SpaceX_Launch_Coverage.html