SpaceX continues through its paces, trying to prove it can carry out a $1.6 billion task NASA has assigned it: hauling cargo to the International Space Station.

The California company that tests its rockets in McGregor recently went through a three-day demonstration of cargo loading and unloading procedures for its Dragon spacecraft in Hawthorne, Calif.

SpaceX hosted a group of NASA personnel at its corporate headquarters, including astronauts Marsha Ivins and Megan McArthur, and other key personnel from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“SpaceX was honored to host the NASA crew and pleased by their positive feedback and remarks,” said John Couluris, SpaceX director of operations. “We look forward to the day when the first of many Dragons arrive at the ISS delivering actual cargo in support of continued ISS operations.”

To earn its money, SpaceX must conduct a minimum of 12 cargo flights between 2010 and 2015. It will pick up the slack created when the space shuttle retires, company spokeswoman Emily Shanklin said.

The tests that took place in Hawthorne, Calif., covered a range of procedures using actual NASA cargo modules, including modules that provide temperature control for sensitive items such as medical and biological samples.

Dragon reportedly is one of the only spacecraft in the world capable of transmitting the status of environment-sensitive cargo back to Earth during its trips to the space station.

Benefiting from policy change

While it continues to prepare to make cargo trips for NASA, SpaceX stands to benefit from President Barack Obama’s announcement this week to use private rocketry to haul astronauts to the space station.

NASA will receive $6 billion during five years to get a company or companies in place to provide these rides. SpaceX has said it can handle the job beginning in 2014, and will charge NASA $20 million per seat.

Some industry observers see SpaceX as a frontrunner in this project because it already has developed much of the technology it needs in its Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX has become a boon — and a boom — to the local economy.

It has 100 full-time employees at its rocket-testing plant in McGregor, which is about 15 miles west of Waco, and officials say hiring is done from around Central Texas.

The number of people working at the plant grows to about 150 when contractors and support staffers fly in from California to work on special projects, the company says.

mcopeland@wacotrib.com

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