SpaceX’s last mission, Eutelsat/ABS, launched on June 15, 2016. (credit: SpaceX)
One of the most persistent criticisms of SpaceX has been the rocket company’s inability to meet its launch commitments. Talk to any of Elon Musk’s competitors in the rocket and spacecraft business, and they will all say the same thing—SpaceX isn’t meeting the demands of its customers. Too much pizzazz, too little substance, and so on.
To some extent, this jealousy-tinged criticism is valid. In 2014, the company had about a dozen missions on its books, and it launched six times. Last year the company had as many as 17 launches planned, but an accident on June 28, 2015 forced it to stand down for nearly the entire second half of the year. SpaceX ended up making six successful launches in 2015. However, this year the company is off to a good start with six successful missions completed so far and a seventh launch planned for 12:45am ET Monday (5:45am BST) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
This flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket seeks to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with its payload of 1.7 tons of supplies as well as an International Docking Adapter. This adapter will allow crewed versions of the Dragon Spacecraft and Boeing’s Starliner to perform automated rendezvous and docking maneuvers with the station beginning in late 2017 or early 2018.
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Source: Ars Technica – SpaceX on pace to at least double its previous record for annual launches