SpaceX completes static tests of its Falcon 9 rocket; ISS resupply launch still on schedule

SpaceX has finished test firing its Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for an upcoming resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

As part of the test, the Falcon 9 test 9 Merlin-1 D engines were fired while the rocket was ‘static’ or clamped down. The launch is special because it will happen from the historic Launch Complex-39A launchpad, the same launchpad that was used for launching almost all of the Apollo missions, reports ArsTechnica.

Launch Complex-39A was leased by SpaceX in 2014 from Nasa. The lease period is 20 years.

This Falcon 9 rocket will carry the Dragon module to its tenth resupply mission to the ISS. It will carry two tonnes of pressurised cargo and one tonne of unpressurised cargo.

The launch is scheduled for 10:01 AM ET (08:31 PM IST) on 25 February this year.

The Dragon is a spacecraft that’s potentially capable of ferrying humans to space. So far, it has been used to deliver cargo to the ISS. It’s an unmanned vehicle and is controlled from a ground-based command and control unit in California.

The Dragon won SpaceX a Commercial Resupply Services contract (CRS) with Nasa valued at over $3 billion. The first Dragon craft became the first commercially built craft to be successfully recovered from orbit.