President Obama announced the first implementation steps in his drive to reform the U.S. export control system today.

The announcement was made at a meeting of the President’s Export Council. According to the White House press release, the main features of today’s implementation steps are the following:

The publication of a draft rule setting out the criteria and procedures to be used in determining whether a product is subject to export controls.
The application of these criteria to one category of items (Category VII: Tanks and Military Vehicles), to be seen as an example of how the new policies would apply.
The publication of a draft rule specifying what licensing policies will apply to products subject to export controls.

The Administration is seeking public comment on the draft rules.

Watch the press conference on the successful flight of Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft live on NASA TV.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden just issued this statement.

NASA and SpaceX will hold a press conference from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at about 3:30 pm EST according to a tweet from NASA’s Bob Jacobs. SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon recoverable capsule earlier today as part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Dragon splashed down in the Pacific 500 miles west of Mexico just after 2:00 pm EST today. The press conference will be covered live on NASA TV.

NASA has announced that the launch of Falcon 9 is on for tomorrow, Wednesday. The launch window is 9:00 am – 12:22 pm.

The successful flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft today could mean that the next launch would go all the way to the International Space Station (ISS) instead of serving only as another test. At least that’s what SpaceX founder, Chief Executive Office (CEO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Elon Musk hopes.

At a press conference this afternoon, Musk raised the possibility of combining the currently scheduled COTS-2 and COTS-3 demonstration flights into one. NASA’s manager for the Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office, Alan Lindenmoyer, promised only that NASA would consider such a proposal from SpaceX. He cautioned that NASA had laid out an incremental program with different requirements for each of the next two launches. Musk said the schedule risk for achieving the first operational mission to the ISS in 2011 – part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) effort – would be lower if the company only had to focus its comparatively small workforce on two missions in 2011 rather than three.

Lindenmoyer was exuberant about today’s success, saying that it was 100% successful and leaving no doubt that he was surprised to be able to say that. He was lavish in his praise of Space X, particularly SpaceX’s “skill and agility” in dealing with the engine nozzle cracks discovered on Monday. NASA was involved in all the management meetings about how to resolve that issue, he said: “My team and I kept firing questions” at SpaceX and they “consistently came back” with “full and comprehensive answers.” “As much as this partnership is learning from NASA, I think there are things we can learn from SpaceX,” he added.

The good will extended both ways. Musk stressed repeatedly that SpaceX owed a debt of gratitude to NASA, too. Sounding just as surprised as Lindenmoyer that the mission went so smoothly, he emphasized that “We are only here because we stand on the shoulder of giants” who developed the core technologies used in Falcon 9 and Dragon.

Musk also talked about how his Dragon spacecraft is more capable than Lockheed Martin’s Orion and much less expensive. “Anything Orion can do, Dragon can do, and … some things that Dragon can do, Orion can’t do,” he said. He cited Dragon’s heat shield as an example of where it is better than Orion, notably with regard to Mars missions. He hopes NASA will let Dragon compete with Orion for such missions.

UPDATE 2: SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is in orbit. The plan is for Dragon to make two orbits and then splashdown in the Pacific. Under that scenario, splashdown would be about 2:00 pm EST. NASA and SpaceX plan a press conference 1-2 hours later. A SpaceX press kit provides more detail on the scheduled timeline.

UPDATE: Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:43 am EST.

ORIGINAL STORY:

SpaceX will make a second attempt to launch its Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 EST this morning. The easiest way to follow the action is on Twitter, where NASA reported that the first attempt was scrubbed 2:48 into the launch sequence, and SpaceX (SpaceXer or SpaceXMissions) later revealed that the cause was a false telemetry reading. A third launch opportunity is available, if needed, just after noon today.

UPDATE 4: SPLASHDOWN! Didn’t even take 140 characters for SpaceX to tweet the news! Congratulations!!

UPDATE 3: And now the main chutes as well.

UPDATE 2: SpaceX tweets that the drogue chutes have deployed.

UPDATE: NASA tweeted three minutes ago that the Dragon’s main parachute should deploy in about 20 minutes.

ORIGINAL STORY:

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has fired its descent rockets to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific according to Spaceflightnow.com. Splashdown is expected just after 2:00 pm EST, 500 miles west of Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Follow SpaceX on Twitter (SpaceXer or SpaceXMissions) or follow live coverage on Spaceflightnow.com.

SpaceX released the following statement about the rescheduled Falcon 9 launch tomorrow. The message is that there are two cracks in the engine nozzle of the second stage engine (rather than one as reported yesterday) and they are still deciding on the path forward. They will announce tonight whether the launch will take place tomorrow or not.

Here is the text of the SpaceX announcement:

UPDATE: COTS Demo 1 Launch Activities

SpaceX engineers are analyzing two small cracks in the aft end of the 2nd stage engine nozzle extension. These cracks are in a region near the end of the nozzle extension where there is very little stress and so they would not cause a flight failure by themselves. However, further investigation is warranted to ensure that these cracks are not symptomatic of a more serious problem.

A decision on whether or not to attempt launch on Wednesday will be provided this evening [Tuesday].

The bell shaped Merlin Vacuum nozzle extension is made of niobium sheet alloy, measures 9 feet tall and 8 feet at the base diameter, and thins out to about twice the thickness of a soda can at the end. Although made of an exotic refractory alloy metal with a melting temperature high enough to boil steel, this component is geometrically the simplest part of the engine.

It is important to note that the niobium nozzle extension increases the efficiency of the Merlin engine in vacuum and is installed by default on all upper stage Merlin engines, but that efficiency increase is not required for this mission. The nozzle extension is most helpful when launching very heavy satellites or to maximize throw mass to distant destinations like Mars. The most likely path forward is that we will trim off the thinnest portion of the nozzle extension, which is where the cracks are located, perform a thorough systems check and resume launch preparation.

The first COTS launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and its Dragon spacecraft will slip to Wednesday at least according to NASA.

The delay is due to discovery of a 3-inch long crack in the engine nozzle on the Falcon 9‘s second stage. The company is considering its options — repairing it or getting a replacement from California — and NASA promised more information about the launch schedule when it‘s available.

The static fire test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 succeeded this morning on the third try. The goal was firing the engines at full thrust for 2 seconds, which the company said on its Twitter account (SpaceXer) was accomplished. See photos of all nine engines firing at http://twitpic.com/3cv29u.