SpaceX is preparing for its first test flight of the firm's Crew Dragon spacecraft which will travel to the International Space Station tomorrow on the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The unmanned flight will mark the first time a commercially-built American craft designed to carry astronauts will travel to the space station from US soil. There will be no astronauts aboard but in their place will be a mannequin called Ripley, named after the main character in the'Alien' science fiction franchise. Ripley is equipped with sensors designed to record details of the trip and provide data vital for future manned missions. SpaceX is preparing for its first test flight of its Crew Dragon spacecraft which will fly to the International Space Station tomorrow on the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is all over him. The Air Force inspector general is auditing his launch certifications. And even NASA, one of his most ardent supporters, is reviewing the safety culture at SpaceX after Elon Musk smoked a joint on a podcast. If that wasn't enough pressure, the billionaire entrepreneur is facing one of the most crucial moments in SpaceX's history early Saturday, when the spacecraft designed to carry humans is scheduled to lift off from a storied launch site here. Although the Dragon spacecraft won't be carrying astronauts -- only a mannequin with sensors and about 400 pounds of cargo -- the flight will mark a significant step toward the restoration of human spaceflight from U.S. soil since the space shuttle was retired nearly eight years ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is all over him. The Air Force inspector general is auditing his launch certifications. And even NASA, one of his most ardent supporters, is reviewing the safety culture at SpaceX after Elon Musk smoked a joint on a podcast. If that wasn't enough pressure, the billionaire entrepreneur is facing one of the most crucial moments in SpaceX's history early Saturday, when the spacecraft designed to carry humans is scheduled to lift off from a storied launch site here. Although the Dragon spacecraft won't be carrying astronauts -- only a mannequin with sensors and about 400 pounds of cargo -- the flight will mark a significant step toward the restoration of human spaceflight from U.S. soil since the space shuttle was retired nearly eight years ago.

As if SpaceX's long-awaited launch of the Falcon Heavy megarocket last month wasn't historic enough, now Elon Musk's aerospace firm is set to hit another major milestone. On Tuesday, a recycled Falcon 9 rocket will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the launch window opening at 12:33pm (EST). If all goes according to plan, it will be the 50th time a Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Earth since its maiden voyage in June 2010. A Falcon 9 recycled rocket will launch for the 50th time on Tuesday. As part of the launch, SpaceX will attempt to land the rocket's first stage on its autonomous drone ship The rocket will deliver Hispasat 30W-6, a Spanish commercial communications satellite, to a geostationary transfer orbit, which is a halfway point en route to the satellite's final destination.

SpaceX's first-ever recycled spaceship arrived Monday at the International Space Station, two days after the unmanned Dragon cargo capsule launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Live images on NASA television showed the spaceship approaching the orbiting outpost, then being grabbed with the station's robotic arm at 9:52 am (1352 GMT). 'Capture complete,' said NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who operated the robotic arm from inside the station. SpaceX's first-ever recycled spaceship arrived Monday at the International Space Station, two days after the unmanned Dragon cargo capsule launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida The mission to the Earth-orbiting laboratory will be the eleventh commercial resupply services flight for SpaceX. The payload will include important materials to support more than 250 science and research investigations taking place during Expeditions 52 and 53.

Elon Musk's company SpaceX will attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday evening, in a bid to send a refurbished Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The CRS-11 mission is the eleventh for the commercial space company and was originally scheduled for Thursday evening, but had to be postponed due to weather conditions. The weather could play spoilsport once again Saturday, which has an instantaneous launch window at 5:07 p.m. EDT. According to forecast by meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron, announced Friday morning, there was a 60 percent chance of favorable weather at the time of the planned launch. That forecast was worse than the 70 percent favorable forecast announced Thursday night. "The primary weather concerns for Saturday's launch are anvil clouds, cumulus clouds and flight through precipitation," the forecast announcement on NASA's website said.

There may come a time when SpaceX landing a rocket stage back on Earth after flying to space isn't news -- when we can simply take these science-fiction looking landings for granted and brush them off as no big deal. The Elon Musk-founded spaceflight company stuck yet another beautiful landing of the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket after launching an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft toward the International Space Station from a historic launch pad. The Dragon spacecraft was loaded down with thousands of supplies for NASA. The booster set down gently on a pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida about 8 minutes after its 9:39 a.m. This landing marks the company's eighth total landing and third back on solid ground.

SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit Sunday night despite losing an engine shortly after lift off. The launch occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT and was first time a Falcon 9 rocket has flown without a delay on the first scheduled launch time. But while the rocket was climbing through the atmosphere, SpaceX did experience an engine failure. It appears that one of the nine Merlin engines exploded, but SpaceX is saying that is not the case. The flight continued and, as designed, the other eight engines were more than enough to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to its proper orbit. "Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do," SpaceX said in a statement.

More details have been revealed about Elon Musk's vision for a human colony on Mars. In a recent Reddit'Ask Me Anything' session, Musk opened up about his plans for making humans a'multiplanetary species.' He says that SpaceX plans to send up to one million people to live in glass domes on Mars within '40 to 100 years.' This would require a huge number of'miner/tunnelling droids' that would build underground pressurised space for industrial activity. In a new Reddit'Ask Me Anything' session, Elon Musk opened up about his hopes of making humans a'multiplanetary species.'