SpaceX Crew Dragon launch preparations in full swing with pre-dawn test firing
CBSN
Just five hours after a Russian Soyuz capsule brought three space station flyers back to Earth in Kazakhstan, SpaceX test fired the first stage engines of a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida early Saturday to clear the way for Thursday's planned launch of another four station-bound astronauts.
The Falcon 9, carrying a Crew Dragon commercial astronaut ferry ship, was hauled atop the historic 39A launch pad on Friday, a few hours before the rocket's three-man, one-woman crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to begin final launch preparations. Following the same timeline that will be in place Thursday, SpaceX engineers loaded the booster with supercold liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene rocket fuel and briefly fired up nine first stage Merlin engines at 6:11 a.m. EDT. The "static fire" test is intended to validate prelaunch procedures and verify the readiness of the rocket.Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund, agreeing to review a lower court decision that upended the mechanism for funding programs that provide communications services to rural areas, low-income communities and schools, libraries and hospitals.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched six space tourists on a high-speed dash to the edge of space and back Friday, giving the passengers — including a husband and wife making their second flight — about three minutes of weightlessness and an out-of-this world view before the capsule made a parachute descent to touchdown at the company's west Texas flight facility.