The April 30 launch date of the Dragon cargo carrier to the International Space Station has slipped, according to an announcement from SpaceX and will now launch May 7.
“After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data,” said a SpaceX spokesperson. ” … it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected. As a result, our launch is likely to be pushed back by one week, pending coordination with NASA.”
In response to the announcement, William Gerstenmaier, NASA associated administrator for Human Exploratoin and Operations said, “We appreciate that SpaceX is taking the necessary time to help ensure the success of this historic flight. We will continue to work with SpaceX in preparing for the May 7 launch to the International Space Station.”
In other news of the Dragon flight, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., April 18 that as a proving flight it will not deliver a payload to the space statoin, but will carry a dummy cargo mass.
A previous NASA news release spoke of bringing 1,200 pounds of “nonessential” supplies to be transferred to the station, and returning 1,400 pounds of non-critical returnable items.
