SpaceX’s launch of the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) at 3:44 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) this morning won accolades from the White House, NASA, Congress and industry.   If all goes well, Dragon will berth at the ISS on Friday at 11:05 am.

Among those singing the praises of the successful launch are President Obama’s Science Adviser John Holdren, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, many Members of Congress, and industry associations.  Following are links to the statements or tweets that we saw; apologies to anyone we missed.

• John Holden, President Obama’s Science Adviser and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden
• Sen. Barbara Mikulski, chairman of the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee, Senate Appropriations Committee tweeted “Congrats to @SpaceX for successful launch.  New era in space.”
• Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, ranking member, Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee and ranking member, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee (NASA’s authorization committee)
• Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), ranking member, House Appropriations CJS Subcommittee
• Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), Chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee (HSS&T)
• Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
• Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL)
• Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) tweeted “Congratulations @SpaceX for your giant leap into the history books this morning with the Dragon launch to the Space Station!”
• Aerospace Industries Association
• Commercial Spaceflight Federation

Video of the launch and the post-launch press conference are at the following links:

• YouTube video of launch
• YouTube video of post-launch press conference

The second try was the charm for SpaceX.   Launch of Falcon 9 was successful this time at 3:44 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).  The first attempt on May 19 was aborted less than one second before liftoff.   This time, the SpaceX Dragon capsule reached orbit and its solar arrays unfurled right on schedule.

The goal is for Dragon to berth with the International Space Station (ISS).  It is full of supplies for the 6-person ISS crew. The next four days are full of various test maneuvers as Dragon proves that it can safely operate in the vicinity of the ISS.   If all goes well, the ISS crew will grapple Dragon with Canada’s robotic arm and pull it into a docking port.   Eighteen days later, Dragon will unberth the same way, reenter, and land in the Pacfic Ocean off the U.S. west coast.

A lot is riding on the success of this mission.  NASA is paying part of the costs for developing the Falcon 9 and Dragon, as well as Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft — which have not launched yet — as part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, also known as “commercial cargo.”  NASA plans to buy cargo-to-ISS services from both companies now that NASA itself has no way to send cargo or crews to the ISS.  Without the space shuttle, which was terminated last year, NASA has been relying on other partners in the ISS program to provide cargo and crew transportation services.   Russia, Europe and Japan have cargo delivery systems.  Only Russia can launch crews to the ISS and bring them home.

NASA also is paying for SpaceX and three other companies to develop “commercial crew” space transportation systems to take crews to and from ISS.  Such services are not expected to be ready for several years yet, however.

The second attempt by SpaceX to launch its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station is on track as of this hour for launch at 3:44 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) tomorrow.

The launch was aborted less than one second before launch on Saturday because of a faulty check valve on engine 5.  SpaceX and NASA are hoping for better luck this time.

The launch of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on the Falcon 9 rocket was scrubbed at the very last moment today because of a high engine chamber pressure reading in engine 5.  SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell confirmed that preliminary diagnosis at a 6:30 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) post-scrub press briefing today.

A launch abort is always better than a launch failure, and not particularly uncommon especially with new rockets.   Aborting right at the moment of launch is unusual and made this one more of a nail-biter than most.  The launch was aborted at T-0.5 seconds — half a second before liftoff.   Shotwell said all nine engines ignited properly, but engine 5 immediately began “trending high” and exceeded the abort limit.

The vehicle is being safed and Shotwell said that technicians would be able to go out to the pad about noon today to determine what went wrong.   Until more is known, a new launch date cannot be set, but the next opportunity is May 22 at 3:44 am EDT.   The company and NASA are also looking at the next day, May 23, at 3:22 am EDT, but they do not know if the range is available that day. 

Shotwell said that if the engine needs to be replaced, it wil take only a “couple of days.”   SpaceX has another Falcon 9 already at Cape Canaveral and the engines could be swapped expeditiously even though that would mean bringing the rocket back to the hangar.   She said they could roll back to the hangar and return to the pad by May 22. 

The launch abort was not a failure, she stressed.  “We aborted with purpose.  It would have been a failure if we lifted off with an engine trending” in the wrong direction.

The launch is a demonstration flight that is part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to facilitate the emergence of commercial companies that can launch cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).  NASA is providing some, but not all, of the funding to SpaceX and to Orbital Sciences Corp. to develop cargo space transportation systems and will buy services from them once they are operational.   Orbital has not yet launched its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft.

SpaceX’s first COTS test flight in December 2010 was successful, launching the Dragon spacecraft into orbit and recovering it at sea after two orbits of the Earth.   Two more SpaceX test flights were planned, but SpaceX convinced NASA to combine them into this one flight. The objectives of this flight includes berthing at the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver supplies to the ISS crew.

SpaceX just announced that it has discovered the root cause of the failure this morning of its Falcon 9 rocket.  The launch was aborted at 4:55 am ET with less than one second to go before liftoff.

A faulty check valve was to blame, according to a press release emailed by the company about 6:00 pm ET:   “During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine.  We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve.  Those repairs should be complete tonight.  We will continue to review data on Sunday.  If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:44 AM Eastern.”

Earlier today, SpaceX and NASA said another opportunity exists on May 23 at 3:22 am ET, although they did not immediately know if the range is available that day.

Stay tuned for more updates from SpaceX and NASA.

UPDATE 2:  Post-scrub launch briefing will be at 6:30 am EDT.  Watch on NASA TV.  Follow us on Twitter @spcplcyonline.

UPDATED with identification of problem and next launch opportunity

The launch of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:55 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) this morning was aborted at the last moment. 

Countdown was proceeding on schedule and at T-0 everyone was expecting the vehicle to lift off.  But it did not. 

SpaceX said the problem was a high chamber pressure reading in engine 5.  The computer automatically shut down the launch.

The nominal scrub turnaround is three days and the next launch opportunity will be Tuesday morning at 3:44 am EDT.

SpaceX’s launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is “go” for launch at 4:55 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) tomorrow from Cape Canaveral, FL.  NASA reports there is a 70 percent chance that the weather will be acceptable at launch time.

SpaceX will provide coverage beginning at 4:15 am.   NASA‘s coverage starts earlier, at 3:30 am.    (Follow us on Twitter @spcplcyonline.)

A lot is riding on the success of this mission, though NASA and SpaceX officials have tried to dampen expectations, reminding everyone that this is a test flight and tests sometimes go awry.  The flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to facilitate the emergence of a “commercial cargo” capability where companies develop systems to take cargo to the ISS on a commercial basis rather than NASA developing the systems itself.  NASA is providing some, but not all, of the funding for SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to develop commercial cargo systems and will buy services from them.  With the termination of the space shuttle program last year, NASA does not have its own ability to send cargo (or crews) to the ISS anymore.   Cargo can be sent only on Russian, European or Japanese spacecraft.   Only Russia can launch crews to the ISS.

Tomorrow’s launch is the second COTS test flight for SpaceX.  The first, in December 2010, successfully lofted a Dragon spacecraft into orbit and it safely reentered, landing in the ocean.  SpaceX planned three demonstration flights, but convinced NASA to combine the second and third, so if this mission achieves all of its objectives, SpaceX could begin offering services to NASA soon.  Orbital Sciences has not yet launched its Antares rocket or Cygnus spacecraft, but NASA hopes that service also will be available in the next year.   SpaceX has a head start on Orbital because Orbital replaced another company (Rocketplane Kistler) that failed early in the COTS program.

The first step for tomorrow’s mission is getting the Dragon spacecraft into orbit.   Assuming the Falcon 9 rocket performs that task successfully, the next step is berthing Dragon with the International Space Station (ISS) on Day 4 of the mission.   If that is successful, Dragon will remain at the ISS for about two weeks and then reenter and land in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the United States.  A press kit with a detailed timeline is on the SpaceX website.

No living people are aboard, but ABC News reports that a canister with the ashes of 308 people, including James Doohan who played Scotty on the original Star Trek series, will rocket into space on the second stage of the Falcon 9.   A company named Celestis sells the opportunity to send people’s ashes into space and reportedly has a performance guarantee that if a launch fails, they will relaunch ashes that have been held in reserve for just such an eventuality.   Of the 308 remains that will be aboard this flight, 208 are reflights from a failed SpaceX launch in 2008 (of its Falcon 1 rocket), including those of NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper.

As noted, the canister containing the ashes is on the second stage of the Falcon 9, not in the Dragon capsule.   Dragon is loaded with supplies for the ISS crew.   Three new crewmembers just arrived at the ISS on Wednesday, joining three others who have been aboard for several months.   Dragon will maneuver itself close to the ISS and the ISS crew will use Canada’s robotic arm to grapple it and pull it into a docking port.

In the future, SpaceX hopes to use Dragon to launch people into space, but that step is several years away.  NASA is funding SpaceX and three other companies to develop “commercial crew” space transportation systems with the hope that at least two will be operating in the 2016-2017 time frame.