SpaceX will get its first trip to the Space Station

Huge deal for the Hawthorne-based company that's headed by entrepreneur Elon Musk (he also heads electric car maker Tesla). SpaceX, which is short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., will launch an unmanned Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral that will fly to the space station and dock with a load of supplies. Launch date is set for Feb. 7. From AP:

SpaceX's Dragon capsule will fly within two miles of the space station, for a checkout of all its systems. Then it will close in, with station astronauts grabbing the capsule with a robotic arm. The Dragon ultimately will be released for a splashdown in the Pacific. None of the other cargo carriers come back intact; they burn up on re-entry. If the rendezvous and docking fail, SpaceX will try again. That was the original plan: to wait until the third mission to actually hook up with the station and delivery supplies. SpaceX wanted to hurry it up.

You may recall that SpaceX launched a capsule into orbit last year.