NASA readies for April 30 launch to ISS

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

Preparations for the April 30 launch of the SpaceX’s Dragon commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station are underway without major problems, a top NASA official said on March 20.

“The simulations are taking place, I don’t know about big drivers right now, only of what they have to do between now and launch day,” said NASA Space Station manager Mike Suffredini at a news conference.

Suffredini downplayed the importance of the launch, stressing the “need to be careful not to assume that the success or failure of commercial spaceflight is going to hang in the balance of a single flight.”

SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Grantham said that NASA had not granted final approval of the launch date, but would do so only after completion of the “Flight Readiness Review, currently expected to occur on April 16.”