 Hey what's up everybody, I'm Space Mike and today I wanted to talk about how SpaceX successfully tested their pad abort system yesterday and are getting closer to being certified to carry real astronauts on their Dragon 2 capsule. This is your space pod for May 7th, 2015. Unlike the launch escape towers that were used in the early space program, Dragon 2 features eight Super Draco thrusters that will push the capsule away in the case of an emergency. The engines are integrated directly into the sides of the vehicle and if they're not used for a launch abort, could possibly be used to make a propulsive landing somewhere. Yesterday's test featured the capsule and a simulated trunk section, and once the engine's fired it went from zero to a hundred real quick. After coasting to its highest point, the capsule jettisoned the trunk section beautifully captured on camera, followed by the drogue parachutes and finally the main parachutes, and it made a nice slow descent into the water just offshore of the launch pad. During the test, a dummy equipped with sensors was on board to collect data about the environment inside the capsule. Had humans been inside, they would have been perfectly safe. So what's next? Well, the data from yesterday's test will allow SpaceX to continue to get ready for their in-flight abort tests. They've already been doing tanking tests on the booster that will be used for that mission, which will be launching from Vandenberg, California. It will be similar to the Falcon 9R Dev1 vehicle, in the sense that it only has three engines and no upper stage. The last pictures I saw did not feature landing legs, so they may not attempt to recover the booster. It's also probably very smart that they will be launching from Vandenberg because they have a very busy rest of the year at Cape Canaveral. For example, June 15th is the targeted launch date for the Commercial Resupply Services No. 7 mission, and then targeted for July 15th, they're hoping to launch the second communication satellite for SES, or specifically SES No. 9 mission. And then back at Vandenberg, also in July, SpaceX is hoping to launch the Jason 3 spacecraft for NASA. But then back at Cape Canaveral later on this year, they're also hoping to have the first Falcon Heavy test flight, and that's going to give them a lot of capability if that's a success. But they're also planning to launch several other communication satellites this year for Orbcom, Spacecom, Asia Broadcast satellite, and more providers. And all of those targeted launch dates are probably going to move. It's never quite final until leading right up to the launch, and even then weather delays and different things like that can cause a targeted launch date to slip a day or two. So I don't want to get too much into the dates for those launches, but it's easy to say that SpaceX has a very busy year for the rest of the year. So at least concerning crew capability, after the in-flight abort test, the big flights after that is SpaceX is planning to have a unmanned Dragon 2 capsule and a crewed Dragon 2 capsule sending up to the International Space Station. And after the critical design review and after passing all of NASA's tests, they will be able to be certified and begin crew taxi services from the International Space Station. So that's awesome. And once they have that certification and that capability, stuff like Bigelow Space Stations who's been waiting for SpaceX, Boeing, or both to have crew capable vehicles to start sending people up to those space stations. Of course he has to launch one of these larger space stations, the BA330 first, but that is also on the books for SpaceX launch. Probably not this year and possibly next year in 2016, but we'll just have to see when the date for that gets closer. Anyway, thank you very much for watching this video. My name is Michael Clark and I would love to know what you think about this whole abort test and all of the different cool things that SpaceX is planning to do this year. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you would like to help us to bring you space news like this, then please visit our Patreon at patreon.com slash space pod to find out how you can help crowdfund this show and become one of the citizens of tomorrow. Thank you again for watching this video. I am super excited for our future. I hope you are too and I will see you guys next time.