SpaceX has delivered to Kennedy Space Center an Ultra High Frequency Communication Unit that the California company hopes will guide its Dragon spacecraft to a docking at the International Space Station.The unit is scheduled to be delivered to the space station this fall by shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-129. The unit will be integrated in preparation for SpaceX's future flights to the orbiting laboratory.
The Dragon spacecraft would carry cargo to the station atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which SpaceX hopes will make its maiden flight before year's end. Demo flights with the Dragon are scheduled for 2010.
As part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition, SpaceX will conduct flights of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, culminating in Dragon berthing with the station and returning to Earth.
ABOUT THE IMAGE: This illustration shows what the Dragon spacecraft, above, would look like docked to the space station.
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