SpaceX, one of two funded industry participants in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) effort, will delay its three planned COTS demonstration flights by 6-9 months. "It's par for the course in aerospace development," say Elon Musk, the company founder. SpaceX, which won a $278-million share of the U.S. space agency's $500 million in seed money to spur development of a commercial route to the International Space Station, now plans to demonstrate its ability to rendezvous and dock with the station in March 2010, instead of the third quarter of 2009. First flight of the Falcon 9 rocket slips from the first quarter of this year.
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