The target launch date was rescheduled from its original 2008 date to the end of 2010, with COTS Demo 2 and 3 being rescheduled to 2011. The two stages and Dragon capsule for the second Falcon 9 were built at SpaceX's manufacturing facility at Hawthorne, California, and were delivered to SpaceX's facilities at Cape Canaveral in July and August 2010. The firm contracted value is $1.6 billion, and NASA could elect to order additional missions for a total contract value of up to $3.1 billion. Separately from the NASA COTS contract, SpaceX was also awarded a NASA contract for commercial resupply services (CRS) to the ISS. The original agreement with NASA called for the COTS Demo Flight 1 to occur in the second quarter of 2008 this flight was delayed several times, actually occurring in December 2010. COTS Demo Flight 1 was the first of the launches under this contract. This contract, designed by NASA to provide "seed money" for development of new boosters, paid SpaceX $278 million to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, with incentive payments paid at milestones culminating in three demonstration launches. On 18 August 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX had won a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract to demonstrate cargo delivery to the International Space Station with a possible option for crew transport. Commercial flights started in October 2012 with CRS-1. This combined test mission was completed in May 2012, and achieved its objectives, opening the path to regular cargo deliveries by Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. and permit a berthing at the ISS during its next flight". With two back-to-back "near-perfect" Falcon 9 launches and satisfactory tests of the first Dragon capsule, SpaceX "asked NASA to combine objectives laid out for the remaining two COTS missions. The success of the mission allowed SpaceX to advance its vehicle testing plan. Liftoff occurred on 8 December 2010 at 15:43 UTC. The mission also aimed to test fixes to the Falcon 9 rocket, particularly the unplanned roll of the first stage that occurred during flight 1. The primary mission objectives were to test the orbital maneuvering and reentry of the Dragon capsule. It was also the first demonstration flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1 was the first orbital spaceflight of the Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the second overall flight of the Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by SpaceX.
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