spacetoday.net: Next Falcon 9 passes dress rehearsal

Posted: Fri, Mar 2, 2012, 10:52 AM ET (1552 GMT)
Falcon 9 on pad for COTS2/3 wet dress rehearsal (NASA/KSC)

A SpaceX rocket scheduled to launch a cargo demonstration mission to the ISS this spring successfully completed a dress rehearsal of its launch on Thursday. SpaceX performed the "wet dress rehearsal" of its upcoming Falcon 9 launch on Thursday, rolling the rocket and its Dragon spacecraft to the pad at Cape Canaveral, fueling it, and performing a countdown all the way to the T-5 mark. SpaceX officials said the practice countdown went well. The rocket is scheduled to launch in late April on a test flight to demonstrate the Dragon's ability to safely approach and berth with the ISS, allowing it to deliver cargo to the station and return cargo to Earth. That mission was scheduled for February but delayed to allow more time for spacecraft software testing.