Next year is going to be a busy one in space.
More than a dozen launches are planned from Cape Canaveral, including flight tests, as NASA and commercial companies work to return people to space from American soil.
On Friday, Jan. 3, SpaceX plans to launch a television satellite.
The launch window for their Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to open at 5:50 p.m. from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
It will be another big year for SpaceX.
The commercial company is not only ramping up more commercial satellite launches, they’ll also continue unmanned resupply missions to the International Space Station.
This summer, SpaceX will conduct a critical test by launching a Dragon capsule with a dummy inside.
It’s all to prepare their spacecraft for future manned missions.
Space Florida leaders are counting on 2014 to help boost work for Brevard County.
“Things are building,” said Dale Ketcham from Space Florida. “It didn’t go away like many people think. It’s still here, and it’s growing, so we’re encouraged, certainly about 2014.”
Perhaps the biggest launch of the year though will happen in September.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft will launch on board a Delta IV rocket for its first ever test flight.
Orion is NASA’s choice to send humans to an asteroid and Mars.
United Launch Alliance also has several government and military missions planned for the new year.
The first is a NASA communications and data relay satellite planned for launch Jan. 23.