Arguably, SpaceX’s most important innovation has been to engineer the Falcon rocket so that it can be reused after launch. But few thought he would succeed when he announced his intention to compete with much larger and more-established corporations in space technology. Musk - who is never far from controversy - has had a hand in disrupting two established industries, first as one of the early developers of online payment systems such as PayPal, and later as chief executive of Tesla, the electric-vehicle manufacturer. The company has achieved this through nimbleness, an outstanding team of engineers and product designers, and the determination of its founder, Elon Musk. But SpaceX has succeeded at the more ambitious goal of carrying people all the way into orbit. Virgin Galactic, founded by entrepreneur Richard Branson, has pulled off sub-orbital flights and is planning to offer short trips for passengers to experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. More recently, other companies have flown humans to space. Corporations have been entwined with national space agencies from early on - Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) famously designed and built the lunar module that carried the Apollo astronauts to the Moon’s surface. The weekend’s launch also consolidates the position of SpaceX, a company that has mushroomed from start-up to major aerospace player in 18 years. SpaceX to launch astronauts - and a new era of private human spaceflight Seats on the SpaceX capsule are around two-thirds of this cost, which means that NASA can channel the savings into other priorities, including its ambition to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. Since 2011, when the agency retired the Space Shuttle, NASA has paid Russia up to US$90 million per person to ferry crews to the ISS aboard the Soyuz craft. Amid the jubilation, this aspect of the achievement should be highlighted more.įor NASA, the launch means, among other things, some more money in the bank. But it is equally a boost for space science and innovation, and especially the enduring value of global cooperation in space research and technology. This development - a decade in the planning - is undoubtedly an achievement for NASA, and for Space X and its reusable rockets. The following day, as the capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS), some 422 kilometres above China’s border with Mongolia, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley made history as the first astronauts to ride a commercial craft into orbit. On 30 May, tens of millions of space enthusiasts were glued to their screens as SpaceX’s Dragon capsule soared into the air above Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ISS ASTRONAUTS INSTALL
Astronauts Robert Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley will carry out spacewalks to help install a new platform for science experiments on the International Space Station.
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