The first private sector spaceship to dock with the International Space Station should be launched on April 30. NASA officials and representatives of SpaceX, the company that has designed and built the privately funded Dragon spacecraft have jointly carried out the Flight Readiness Review.

The mission is intended as a demonstration, but although unmanned, the spaceship will transport cargo to the current inhabitants of the International Space Station. California based SpaceX will use the company's own Falcon 9 rocket (in picture below) to launch the Dragon spaceship and take it to the space station. "Everything looks good heading into the April 30 launch date," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations. "I think the teams are very well-prepared. They've done a tremendous amount of work getting ready."

There are still a number of pre-flight checks to be carried out, including a test firing of the rocket's engines, but the April 30 date looks promising and no problems are predicted. Owner and Chief Designer of SpaceX, Elon Musk, pointed out that the mission was not a walk in the park, "I think it’s important to appreciate that this is fairly tricky and it is important to remember that we are hitting a target within a few inches while it moves over 17,000 mph," he said. Musk added that although tested both the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spaceship (in picture above) are relatively new.

Another review is scheduled for April 23, and all being well, the launch will go ahead at 12:22 p.m. EDT, April 30. If the mission is a success, the Dragon spaceship is expected to begin regular supply runs to the space station, and will have the additional advantage of being able to bring cargo back to earth from the station. SpaceX is also developing a manned version of the Dragon spaceship and is currently running tests with NASA.

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Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

(photo source:  www.spacex.com)