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05-17-2012 01:17 BJT
SpaceX is soon to become the first private company to build a spacecraft in order to dock with the
International Space Station.
If all goes as planned, this should happen later this month. From now on, it appears the space race is a private
enterprise endeavour, rather than a competition between nations.
A new space race begins.
Since the US Space Shuttle program ended in July 2011, NASA has relied on Russia to deliver Americans to the
International Space Station (ISS). But it comes at a cost of more than 50 million dollars a seat.
The incentive to find a less costly mode of transportation has been a boon for private industry, and billionaire
entrepreneur Elon Musk is leading the way so far.
On May 19th, the Falcon 9 rocket will launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once
in space, the rocket will release into orbit the Dragon Capsule, a reusable spacecraft that will then be bound for
the space station. If all goes to plan, a few days after that, it will dock with the space station in a procedure
known as "berthing", and will deliver supplies to astronauts aboard.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WEe2aK3K6Ds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
SpaceX is soon to become the first private company to build a spacecraft in order to dock with the
International Space Station.
If all goes as planned, this should happen later this month. From now on, it appears the space race is a private
enterprise endeavour, rather than a competition between nations.
A new space race begins.
Since the US Space Shuttle program ended in July 2011, NASA has relied on Russia to deliver Americans to the
International Space Station (ISS). But it comes at a cost of more than 50 million dollars a seat.
The incentive to find a less costly mode of transportation has been a boon for private industry, and billionaire
entrepreneur Elon Musk is leading the way so far.
On May 19th, the Falcon 9 rocket will launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once
in space, the rocket will release into orbit the Dragon Capsule, a reusable spacecraft that will then be bound for
the space station. If all goes to plan, a few days after that, it will dock with the space station in a procedure
known as "berthing", and will deliver supplies to astronauts aboard.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WEe2aK3K6Ds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
