US Government shutdown: An update from NASA this morning showed that SpaceX’s first test release of its Dragon crew capsule is going to be pushed returned to February.

US Government shutdown –

Kicking the rocket down the road: SpaceX had hinted the launch might be delayed while CEO Elon Musk retweeted snap shots of the spacecraft on January 5 pronouncing, “About a month away from the primary orbital test flight of crew Dragon.” The release turned into originally planned for January 7 and became then rescheduled to January 17.

Why the delays? The NASA announcement stated the put off was “to finish hardware testing and joint evaluations,” however it’s in all likelihood the USA government shutdown is a contributing issue. As the shutdown drags on thru its 1/3 week, many NASA scientists are furloughed or working without pay. A damaged Hubble digital camera might not be able to be fixed till the shutdown ends, a army weather satellite tv for pc software has been put on preserve, and different launches are being held up as nicely.

Why it topics: NASA is in a rush to get Boeing and SpaceX crewed missions up and strolling so it can shake off its dependence on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. The company has bought seats on Soyuz only via November 2019, so uncrewed check flights need to happen as soon as feasible. Assuming they do, and they’re a success, NASA’s Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are slated to fly on SpaceX’s Demo-2 test in June. That could cause them to the primary astronauts to launch from US soil because the shuttle’s ultimate flight in 2011.