At 9:03 am ET this morning, the SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully berthed with the International Space Station.
FORBES: SpaceX Dragon Successfully Berths With Space Station
On March 1, the SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch on its third trip to the International Space Station.
FORBES: SpaceX Dragon Will Return To The Space Station On March 1
Whether the Dragon capsule launches on April 30th depends on the outcome of a final test on April 16th.
When it launches, three days later, astronauts will use a robotic arm to attach the Dragon capsule to the station.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, its Dragon capsule filled with food, supplies and science experiments, had been scheduled for 4:55 a.m.
The flight will be scrubbed for at least three days if the company's 18-story Falcon 9 rocket and teardrop-shaped Dragon capsule aren't ready.
At 3:22pm ET today, the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific after departing the International Space Station earlier this morning.
Didn't get enough of the Dragon capsule launch this week?
ENGADGET: NASA: SpaceX Dragon capsule to reach ISS on March 3rd at 6:01AM ET
The successful splashdown Thursday of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the world's first commercial space cargo ship, is drawing high praise from spaceflight experts and lawmakers alike.
MSN: SpaceX showered with praise for success of Dragon mission
One small step in May is poised to turn into one giant leap for space capitalism as NASA approved the Sunday evening launch of SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
ENGADGET: SpaceX Dragon capsule launch gets go signal from NASA Alt
The Sunday flight -- dubbed CRS-1 -- will have the Dragon capsule piggybacking on a Falcon 9 rocket to punch through the atmosphere while carrying more than a thousand pounds of cargo.
ENGADGET: SpaceX Dragon capsule launch gets go signal from NASA Alt
SpaceX , founded by Elon Musk, an entrepreneur, hopes its Dragon capsule will start ferrying astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station next year for NASA when the agency's shuttle programme comes to an end.
Even if NASA elects to merge the two remaining test launches, it will still need to spend more money than it was originally planning to verify that Falcon 9 and the Dragon capsule are suitable for space-station operations.
SpaceX, owned by PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, has already accomplished two unmanned flights to the ISS. Work is currently focused on outfitting the Dragon capsule to carry up to seven people, with human test flights expected in mid-2015.
The executive has a point when there's more than 40 booked SpaceX flights so early into the Falcon program's history, although there's something left to prove when the first scheduled Dragon capsule launch ran into a non-critical engine failure.
ENGADGET: CE-Oh no he didn't!: SpaceX creator Elon Musk says Ariane 5 rocket has 'no chance'
It carries the company's Dragon cargo capsule capable of carrying 13, 228 pounds of supplies into orbit, the company said.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched the Dragon space capsule on Sunday.
We also reached a critically important milestone in May when SpaceX became the first private company to send a spacecraft -- the Dragon cargo capsule -- to the International Space Station and return it with cargo intact.
Next week, Space Exploration Technologies plans to test-fly a space capsule called Dragon.
Astronauts released the unmanned SpaceX capsule, named Dragon, from the end of the space station's giant robot arm.
The arm will guide the supply capsule into the station, and the Dragon completed the attachment at 8:56 a.m.
The arm will guide the supply capsule into the station, and the Dragon is expected to berth at about 9:40 a.m.
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