SpaceX Gets Ready For Testing At Historic 39A

Engineers are now preparing to mount a Falcon 9 rocket at the historic 39A pad at the Kennedy Space Center for the first time this week. The company declares the facility ready for a new era of commercial space missions.

The two-stage rocket is said to be able to roll out SpaceX's hangar at the southern perimeter of the pad and could ramp to the launch mount as early as Thursday. The company aims to fill the rocket with super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants. If everything goes according to plan, the test for the Falcon 9 rocket could go on smoothly. SpaceFlight Now reported that the sensors in each of the engines will measure performance parameters during the rocket's brief ignition, with hold-down restraints keeping the rocket on the ground.

SpaceX is also prepping the rocket for a launch targeted for 10:01 a.m. on Feb. 18 with a Dragon cargo craft flying to the International Space Station (ISS). The commercial supply ship is said to carry over 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of equipment and experiments.

As Reuters noted that the ambitious launch comes only five months after the SpaceX rocket burst into flames on the launch pad at the original launch site in Florida Since then, SpaceX launched only one other rocket in mid-January.

This did not deter the company, however, with President Gwynne Shotwell telling Reuters that they should be launching every two to three weeks. It is the pace they would have had before the accident on Sep. 1, which happened during a routine preflight test that destroyed a $200 million Israeli satellite and also heavily damaging the launch pad.

Repairs are said to be still underway, and it is noted to cost "far less than half" of a new one. Due to the results of the investigation following the explosion, SpaceX has modified the rocket's engines to improve performance and resolve potential safety concerns.