Russian Supply Ship Docks At Space Station

A Russian space freighter docked at the International Space Station tonight, hauling up three tons of supplies and equipment to the six astronauts and cosmonauts living and working in the orbital research laboratory.

The Progress 46 spacecraft linked up with the station's Russian Pirs docking compartment at 7:09 p.m. EST, completing a two-day trip that began with a launch Wednesday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Kononenko monitored the automated docking, ready to remotely take manual control of the incoming robotic cargo carrier if need be. Leak checks were conducted before the hatch to the craft was opened. And the crew on the station then prepared to offload 2.9 tons of food, fuel and equipment.

Also onboard the station: U.S. astronauts Dan Burbank and Don Pettit, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers and Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin.

The docking marked the first of up to five supply runs by Russian Progress vehicles this year. European and Japanese cargo carriers are scheduled to arrive in March and late June.

The first deliveries by U.S. commercial carriers are expected by the end of the year.

Romney Picks Up Endorsement From Space Vets

A group that includes the first space shuttle pilot, the last man to walk on the moon and a former NASA Administrator endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today, saying the former Massachusetts governor would ensure "America will once again lead the world in space."

Veteran shuttle mission commander and pilot Bob Crippen, Apollo 17 mission commander Gene Cernan, former NASA chief Mike Griffin and five others issued an open letter of support for Romney, who is campaigning today on Florida's Space Coast.

"We have watched with dismay as President Obama dismantled the structure that was guiding both the government and commercial space sectors, while providing no purpose or vision or mission," the letter says. "This failure of leadership has thrust the space program into disarray and triggered a dangerous erosion of our technical workforce and capabilities. In short, we have a space program unworthy of a great nation."

Read the full text of the letter HERE

President Barack Obama canceled a Bush Administration program aimed at returning American astronauts to the moon by 2020. The White House said the program could not be executed within the available budget.

President Obama then charted a new course for NASA, directing the agency to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars by the mid-2030s. He allowed a Bush Administration decision to end the shuttle program after the completion of International Space Station assembly to remain in place. The U.S. will pay Russia to fly American astronauts on round trips to the station until private-sector companies, using NASA seed money, develop commercial space taxis. That effort is expected to take at least another five years.

Romney this week said he believes in a "very vibrant and strong space program." But he dismissed as too expensive the idea of building a lunar colony by 2020 -- an idea introduced earlier this week by opponent Newt Gingrich.

"That's an enormous expense. And right now I want to be spending money here. Of course the Space Coast has been badly hurt and I believe in a very vibrant and strong space program. To define the mission for our space program, I'd like to bring in the -- the top professors that relate to space areas and physics, the top people from industry. Because I want to make sure what we're doing in space translates into commercial products. I want to bring in our top military experts on space needs," Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"And -- and finally of course, the -- the people from -- the administration if I had an administration. I'd like to come together and talk about different options and the cost. I'd like corporate America as well as the defense network and others that could come together in a -- in a part -- in, if you will, a partnership basis to create a plan that will keep our space program thriving and growing. I -- I believe in a manned space program. I'd like to see whether they believe in the same thing.

I'm not -- I'm not looking for a -- a colony on the moon. I think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions. I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S."

Joining Crippen, Cernan and Griffin in endorsing Romney were:

++Scott Pace, Chair of the Romney Space Policy Advisory Group
Director, Space Policy Institute, The Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University
Former Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

++Mark Albrecht
Chairman of the Board, USSpace
Former Executive Secretary, National Space Council

++Eric Anderson
Chairman and CEO, Space Adventures
Chairman, Commercial Spaceflight Federation

++Peter Marquez
Former Director of Space Policy, National Security Council
Former Director of Special Programs, Department of Defense

++William Martel
Associate Professor of International Security Studies, The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Former Alan B. Shepard Chair of Space Technology and Policy Studies, Naval War College

Cargo Ship With Rocket Parts Crashes In Kentucky

A cargo ship carrying rocket stages headed for Cape Canaveral crashed into a bridge in Kentucky Thursday but no flight hardware was damaged, officials said today.

United Launch Alliance issued this statement:

"The Delta Mariner, owned and operated by Foss Marine, made contact with the Eggner Ferry Bridge at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River Thursday evening, Jan. 26 at 8:15 p.m. Central Time resulting in a portion of the bridge collapsing . The 312-foot vessel was carrying vehicle components for an upcoming United Launch Alliance launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida . There are no injuries on the Mariner or the bridge. Initial inspections have shown that the flight hardware being transported was not damaged. The Coast Guard is conducting an investigation.

The Delta Mariner was commissioned in 2002 to transport flight hardware from the United Launch Alliance factory in Decatur , Ala. , to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif."

Our colleagues at USA TODAY have the HERE

From lunar colonies to NASA, space heats up GOP debate

Space again emerged as a key topic for GOP presidential candidates as they debated Thursday night in Jacksonville.

Here's what they had to say, based on a CNN transcript:

QUESTION: Good evening. My name is Matthew Bathel (ph). My question is, what would your plan be for the future of manned space flight and the future of NASA?

WOLF BLITZER: All right, let me go to Governor Romney on this one. An important issue, especially here in Florida where a lot of people have lost their jobs as a result of the decline of the space program. Yesterday Speaker Gingrich outlined a -- a pretty long plan on what to do about it and he said that by the end of his second term, if he were elected president, there would be a permanent base on the moon. Good idea?

MITT ROMNEY: That's an enormous expense. And right now I want to be spending money here. Of course the space coast has been badly hurt and I believe in a very vibrant and strong space program. To define the mission for our space program, I'd like to bring in the -- the top professors that relate to space areas and physics, the top people from industry. Because I want to make sure what we're doing in space translates into commercial products. I want to bring in our top military experts on space needs.

And -- and finally of course, the -- the people from -- the administration if I had an administration. I'd like to come together and talk about different options and the cost. I'd like corporate America as well as the defense network and others that could come together in a -- in a part -- in, if you will, a partnership basis to create a plan that will keep our space program thriving and growing. I -- I believe in a manned space program. I'd like to see whether they believe in the same thing.

I'm not -- I'm not looking for a -- a colony on the moon. I think the cost of that would be in the hundreds of billions, if not trillions. I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S.

BLITZER: We have a question. I want to speaker to weigh in as well.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: This question is related from -- we got it from Twitter. Speaker Gingrich, how do you plan to create a base on the moon while keeping taxes down in eight years?

(LAUGHTER)

NEWT GINGRICH: I think, look it's a great question. You start with the question, do you really believe NASA in it's current form is the most effective way of leveraging investment in space? We now have a bureaucracy sitting there, which has managed to mismanage the program so well that in fact we have no lift vehicle. So you almost have to wonder, what does the Washington office of NASA do? Does it sit around and think space?

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: Does it contemplate that some day we could have a rocket? My point in the speech I made yesterday, which is on CSPAN and I'd love to have all of you look at it. It's based on having looked at space issues since the late 1950's when missiles and rockets was a separate magazine. And working with NASA and others. I believe by the use of prizes, by the use of incentives, by opening up the space port so that it's available on a ready basis for commercial fight, by using commonsense for example the Atlas-V could easily be fixed into a man capable vehicle so you didn't have to rely on -- on a Russian launch or a Chinese launch.

There are many things you can do to leverage accelerating the development of space. Lindbergh flew to Paris for a $25,000.00 prize. If we had a handful of serious prizes, you'd see an extraordinary number of people out there trying to get to the moon first in order to have billed (ph) that. And I'd like to have an American on the moon before the Chinese get there.

BLITZER: Senator Santorum?

(APPLAUSE)

RICK SANTORUM: I -- I believe America's a frontier nation and obviously the frontier that -- that we're talking about is -- is the next one, which is space. And that we need to inspire. One of the big problems we have in our country today is that young people are not getting involved in math and science and not dreaming big dreams. So NASA or the space program where space is important, NASA is one component that -- our -- our space defense is another area. I think both of -- both of which are very, very important. I agree that we need to bring good minds in the private sector much more involved in NASA than the government bureaucracy that we have. But let's just be honest, we run a $1.2 trillion deficit right now. We're -- we're borrowing 40-cents of every dollar. And to go out there and promise new programs and big ideas, that's a great thing to maybe get votes, but it's not a responsible thing when you have to go out and say that we have to start cutting programs, not talking about how to -- how to -- how to grow them.

We're going to cut programs. We're going to spend -- under my administration, we're going to spend less money every year -- every year. Year, to year, to year the federal government amount of spending will go down for four years until we get a balanced budget. And you can't do that by -- by -- by grand schemes. Whether it's the space program or frankly whether it's the Speaker's Social Security program, which will create a brand-new Social Security entitlement. Those are things that sound good and maybe make big promises to people, but we've got to be responsible in the way we allocate our resources.

BLITZER: We're going to get to that in a moment, but...

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: Congressman Paul, Texas, the space program very important there as well. Where do you stand on this?

RON PAUL: Well, I don't think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there.

(APPLAUSE)

PAUL: But I went -- I went into the Air Force in 1962 and studied aerospace medicine. Actually had a daydream about maybe becoming the first physician to go into space. That -- that didn't occur, but I see space -- the amount of money we spend on space, the only part that I would vote for is for national defense purposes. Not to explore the moon and go to Mars. I think that's fantastic. That's -- I love those ideas. But I also don't like the idea of building government business partnerships. If we had a healthy economy and had more Bill Gateses and more Warren Buffetts, the money would be there. It should be privatized, and the people who work in the industry, if you had that, there would be jobs in aerospace.

And I just think that we don't need a bigger, a newer program, when you think of the people -- I mean, health care or something else deserves a lot more priority than going to the moon. So, I would be very reluctant, but space technology should be followed up to some degree for national defense purposes, but not just for the fun of it and, you know, for -- you know, for scientific --

BLITZER: We're going to leave this subject, but before we do, I want Speaker Gingrich to clarify what you said yesterday in that major speech you delivered on space. You said that you would support a lunar colony or a lunar base, and that if 13,000 Americans were living there, they would be able to apply for U.S. statehood from the moon.

GINGRICH: I was meeting Rick's desire for grandiose ideas. But --

BLITZER: That's a pretty grandiose idea.

GINGRICH: But let me make just two points about this.

It is really important to go back and look at what John F. Kennedy said in May of 1961 when he said, "We will go to the moon in this decade." No American had orbited the Earth. The technology didn't exist.

And a generation of young people went into science and engineering and technology, and they were tremendously excited. And they had a future.

I actually agree with Dr. Paul. The program I envision would probably end up being 90 percent private sector, but it would be based on a desire to change the government rules and change the government regulations, to get NASA out of the business of trying to run rockets, and to create a system where it's easy for private sector people to be engaged.

I want to see us move from one launch occasionally to six or seven launches a day because so many private enterprises walk up and say, we're prepared to go do it. But I'll tell you, I do not want to be the country that having gotten to the moon first, turned around and said, it doesn't really matter, let the Chinese dominate space, what do we care? I think that is a path of national decline, and I am for America being a great country, not a country in decline.

(APPLAUSE)

BLITZER: We're going to move on, but go ahead, Governor Romney.

ROMNEY: I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, "You're fired."

The idea that corporate America wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it's not a good idea. And we have seen in politics -- we've seen politicians -- and Newt, you've been part of this -- go from state to state and promise exactly what that state wants to hear. The Speaker comes here to Florida, wants to spend untold amount of money having a colony on the moon. I know it's very exciting on the Space Coast.

In South Carolina, it was a new interstate highway, and dredging the port in Charleston. In New Hampshire, it was burying a power line coming in from Canada and building a new VHA hospital in New Hampshire so that people don't have to go to Boston.

Look, this idea of going state to state and promising what people want to hear, promising billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy, that's what got us into the trouble we're in now. We've got to say no to this kind of spending.

(APPLAUSE)

GINGRICH: I want to make two points.

First, I thought we were a country where one of the purposes of candidates going around was to actually learn about the states they campaigned in and actually be responsive to the needs of the states they campaign in. For example, the port of Jacksonville is going to have to be expanded because the Panama Canal is being widened, and I think that's useful thing for a president to know. I think it's important for presidents to know about local things.

Second -- and at the other end of the state, the Everglades Restoration Project has to be completed, and it's the federal government which has failed.

But, second, in response to what Rick said, when we balanced the budget with the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, and ultimately had four consecutive balanced budgets, we doubled the size of the National Institutes of Health because we set priorities. It is possible to do the right things in the right order to make this a bigger, richer, more exciting country.

You don't just have to be cheap everywhere. You can actually have priorities to get things done.

(APPLAUSE)

Kennedy remembers fallen astronauts

Kennedy Space Center this morning joined NASA centers across the country honoring fallen astronauts with an annual Day of Remembrance.

Center Director Bob Cabana, Deputy Director Janet Petro, and Mark Nappi, head of United Space Alliance's Florida operations, laid a wreath before the Space Mirror Memorial at the KSC Visitor Complex.

The trio bowed their heads and hugged before the mirror holding the names of 24 astronauts killed during missions or training.

Visitors were offered flowers to place in a fence framing the mirror.

Click here to see messages from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and President Barack Obama.

Next year, a much larger memorial event is expected to mark the 10th anniversary of the loss during re-entry of shuttle Columbia's seven-person crew.

Images: James Dean, Florida Today

Russian Freighter Rockets Toward Space Station

A supply-filled Russian cargo carrier is in hot pursuit of the International Space Station tonight after launching from a spaceport on the central steppes of Kazakhstan.

Mounted atop a Soyuz U rocket, the Progress 46 space freighter blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:06 p.m. EST.

About 10 minutes later, it was zooming around the planet in low Earth orbit, its solar arrays and navigation antenna successfully deployed.

It was a chilly five degrees Fahrenheit at Baikonur when the Progress 46 set sail. The vehicle is the 46th Progress launched by Russia during the assembly and maintenance of the International Space Station. The spacecraft is hauling up about 6,000 pounds of supplies and equipment.

The launch was closely watched because a Progress freighter was destroyed in an Aug. 24 Soyuz U launch failure. An investigation into that accident cleared the way for the Oct. 30 launch of another Soyuz U rocket on a return-to-flight mission.

The Progress 46 spacecraft will carry out a series of trajectory correction burns over the next two days. It is expected to dock at the International Space Station at 7:08 p.m. EST Friday. Live NASA TV coverage will pick up here in The Flame Trench at 6:30 p.m. EST.

The station now is staffed by U.S. astronauts Dan Burbank and Don Pettit, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, and three Russian cosmonauts: Anatoly Ivanishin, Anton Skaplerov and Oleg Kononenko.

The ISS has been staffed continuously since the first expedition crew boarded the outpost on Nov. 2, 2000.

Russian Cargo Ship Set For 6:06 PM Launch

A Russian space freighter is being prepped for a planned launch tonight on the first of more than a half dozen 2012 supply runs to the International Space Station.

The Progress 46 spacecraft is slated to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:06 p.m. EST today. You can watch live NASA TV coverage here in The Flame Trench beginning at 5:45 p.m. Click the NASA TV box on the right to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage.

The venerable workhorse will haul up about 6,000 pounds of food, water, air and other supplies to the outpost. Docking at the station is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. Friday. Live coverage of the link-up will begin here at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The Progress 46 spacecraft is the first of five Russian cargo carriers scheduled to launch this year. Four additional Progress vehicles are to be launched on April 25, July 25, Oct. 23 and Dec. 26.

A European Automated Transfer Vehicle -- ATV-3 -- is scheduled to launch March 9 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. A Japanese HTV cargo carrier is targeted to launch sometime around June 26.

Two U.S. companies -- SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. -- also hope to launch commercial cargo carriers to the station this year.

Filled with trash and surplus gear, the Progress 45 spacecraft will make a destructive plunge back through the atmosphere at about 9:25 p.m. tonight. Launched Oct. 30, the spacecraft undocked from the station Monday and will deploy an 88-pound science satellite prior to reentry. The satellite is equipped with instruments that will enable researchers to study plasma waves in low Earth orbit.

Three To Be Enshrined In Astronaut Hall Of Fame

A plasma physicist now working on advanced rocket propulsion technology, the U.S. military's highest-ranking spaceman and a former NASA Chief Astronaut will be inducted this May into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charlie Precourt will join the likes of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride in the hall of fame, which is located just outside the main gate to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The addition of the three will bring to 82 the number of astronauts so enshrined. They tallied the most votes on ballots submitted by a committee of 80 astronaut inductees, retired NASA and contractor officials, historians and journalists.

Chang-Diaz is the co-holder of the U.S. record for the greatest number of missions flown. Both he and Jerry Ross flew seven shuttle missions. Chang-Diaz first flew in space on a crew that included current NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando. He flew on four of NASA's five shuttle orbiters, helped deploy the Galileo spacecraft on its mission to Jupiter, twice tested the Italian Tethered Satellite System and worked on both the Russian Mir space station and the International Space Station.

Born in Costa Rica, Chang-Diaz became the first naturalized U.S. citizen to be selected to the astronaut corp when he joined the Class of 1980. An accomplished plasma physicist with a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he left NASA in 2005 and founded the Ad Astra Rocket Company, where he is continuing work on an advanced electrical propulsion system that theoretically could cut the travel time to Mars to 39 days. Travel time to Mars with conventional chemical rockets would be at least six months.

Chilton piloted Endeavour on its inaugural mission, a dramatic May 1992 flight to rescue a stranded Intelsat communications satellite.

He also piloted Endeavour on the Space Radar Laboratory mission in 1994 and commanded the third shuttle mission to the Mir space station.

Chilton served as a deputy program manager for operations in the International Space Station office at Johnson Space Center before he left NASA in 1998.

He went on to become the commander of Air Force Space Command and Air Force Strategic Command and retired as a four-star general in February 2011 -- the highest military rank ever held by a U.S. astronaut.

Precourt served as NASA's Chief Astronaut during the first four years of International Space Station assembly, a time period that stretched from October 1998 through November 2002. Prior to that, he was director of NASA operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside Moscow.

A veteran of four shuttle flights, Precourt served as a mission specialist on a German Spacelab mission in 1993. He was aboard Columbia during a launch-pad abort in March of that year. The shuttle's three main engines ignited and then shut down three seconds prior to a planned liftoff. Shuttle computers detected a potential problem with purge pressure readings in the oxidizer preburner of Engine No. 2. All three engines subsequently were replaced at the launch pad and Columbia finally launched in late April 1993.

Precourt also piloted Atlantis on the historic first shuttle docking at the Mir space station, and he commanded two other shuttle missions to the Russian outpost. He left NASA in 2005 and now is vice president and general manager of launch systems for ATK, the company that manufactured shuttle solid rocket boosters.

Gingrich to visit Space Coast for aerospace talk

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich today is scheduled to participate in a round table discussion with local aerospace industry leaders at Brevard Community College's Cocoa campus. FLORIDA TODAY will stream the invitation-only event live online. Here's a look at the agenda for the 3:30 p.m. event provided by its organizer, the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast:

-- Welcome: Bernie Simpkins
-- Opening Comments: Bob Whelen, Corp. VP - Real Estate & Environmental, Health & Safety, Harris Corporation, Chair, EDC of Florida’s Space Coast
-- Introduction of Former Attorney General Bill McCollum: Hon. Thad Altman, Florida State Senator, District 24
-- Introduction of Hon. Newt Gingrich: Hon. Bill McCollum, Former Florida Attorney General
-- General Remarks: Hon. Newt Gingrich, 2012 U.S. Presidential Candidate
Importance of Human Space Exploration, Capt. Michael McCulley, USN, Ret., Former NASA Astronaut
-- Government’s Role in Human Space Exploration: Mark Nappi, VP, Launch & Recovery Systems, United Space Alliance, LLC
-- Commercial Space: Tim Hughes, Sr. VP & General Counsel, SpaceX; Mark Bitterman, VP of Washington Operations, United Launch Alliance
-- Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle: Adrian Laffitte, Dir., Florida Govt. Relations
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
-- Aerospace & Aviation Education: Dr. Anthony Catanese, President, Florida Institute of Technology
-- Aviation Industry: Gary Spulak, President, North America Embraer
-- Future Opportunities in Florida: Dale Ketcham, Consultant, Space Florida
-- Workforce & Innovation Opportunities: Hon. Andy Anderson, Vice Chairman Brevard County Board of County Commissioners; Bill Cunningham, CEO COEPTIS
-- Closing Comments: Bob Whelen
-- Open Discussion – Q&A: Hon. Newt Gingrich

State-Of-The-Union Guest: Astronaut Mark Kelly

Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will be a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama at the Capitol tonight when President Barack Obama delivers his 2012 State Of The Union address.

A White House list of the First Lady's special guests calls Kelly "an American astronaut, retired US Navy Captain, best-selling author, and an experienced naval aviator who flew combat missions during the Gulf War."

"The winner of many awards, including the Legion of Merit, two Defense Superior Service Medals and two Distinguished Flying Crosses, Kelly was selected as an astronaut in 1996. He flew his first of four missions in 2001 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, the same space shuttle that he commanded on its final flight in May 2011. He has also commanded Space Shuttle Discovery and is one of only two individuals who have visited the International Space Station on four different occasions.

"Already a celebrated American, Kelly became the center of international attention after the January 2011 assassination attempt on his wife, US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In their best-selling memoir, Gabby, the couple shares their story of hope and resilience with the world."

Check out the full list at the bottom left of THIS PAGE.

Discovery eyes April 17 departure from KSC

Shuttle fleet leader Discovery is expected to depart Kennedy Space Center on April 17 for a non-stop ferry flight to Dulles International Airport, NASA and the Smithsonian Institution confirmed today.

KSC technicians recently fitted a tail cone over replica main engines installed on the retired orbiter, the last major processing milestone in preparation for the flight.

A ceremony is planned April 19 to tow Discovery into the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., where it will swap places with orbiter prototype Enterprise.

Enterprise then will take Discovery's place atop a 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for a targeted April 23 or April 24 ferry flight to New York City, where it will be displayed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

All the travel dates are dependent on weather and remaining processing work being completed as planned.

Details about Discovery's route to Washington and any potential fly-overs are not complete.

The orbiters Endeavour and Atlantis could move later this year to their respective display sites in California and on the Space Coast.

IMAGE: Inside Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 12, technicians helped secure the tail cone around space shuttle Discovery’s three replica shuttle main engines for protection. The work is part of the Space Shuttle Program’s transition and retirement processing of shuttle Discovery. Discovery is being prepared for display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

SpaceX Gives World A View Inside Dragon

The company aiming to launch the first commercial cargo freighter to the International Space Station is giving the world a look inside its Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., this week released an interactive panorama that takes viewers inside a Dragon spacecraft like the one the company plans to launch on a demonstration mission to the station in late March. You can check out the panorama HERE.

A Falcon 9 rocket is tentatively scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station around March 20, boosting a Dragon spacecraft on the first leg of an inaugural flight to the outpost. The goal of the mission is to demonstrate the Dragon can safely and reliably haul cargo up to the station. It will be the first commercial spacecraft to be berthed at the complex, and the mission will clear the way for the first commercial cargo delivery to the station later this year.

The launch had been slated for Feb. 7, but it recently was pushed back to give engineers more time to prepare for the flight.