SpaceX Delays Launch by One Week

SpaceX announced today that it is delaying its test launch to the International Space Station by another week to allow more testing.

The launch was tentatively approved for April 30 (with May 3 as a backup date) last week after a NASA Flight Readiness Review, but NASA’s Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said at the time that additional software testing was required and a final decision had not been made.  Today was the day that SpaceX had to report to NASA on its progress in testing the software.

In an e-mailed message, SpaceX said: 

“After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data. While it is still possible that we could launch on May 3rd, it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected. As a result, our launch is likely to be pushed back by one week, pending coordination with NASA.

“We will send out an announcement when a new target it [sic] set.”