SpaceX is targeting May 27 or May 28 for the maiden launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, which is being readied for flight at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.The 180-foot rocket had been listed on the Air Force Eastern Range schedule for launch this coming Sunday. However, the California-based company and subcontractor Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Co. of Simsbury, Conn., still are working with the Air Force to qualify the Flight Termination System for the Falcon 9.
The system comprises a series of small explosives that could be used to deliberately destroy the rocket if it careened out of control and threatened cities and towns surrounding the Air Force base.
The new target represents a placeholder on the range schedule -- or the first opportunity to launch after the planned 8:48 a.m. shuttle Atlantis landing next Wednesday.
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