I'm very excited by the news that the first private spaceship has been successfully tested in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX's Dragon capsule was launched atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral this morning.
It completed two orbits before splashing down on target in the Pacific Ocean.
This was the first test flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. SpaceX has a US $1.6 billion contract to ferry supplies (and, perhaps, astronauts at a later date) for NASA to the International Space Station after the retirement of the Space Shuttle.
I believe private enterprise is unquestionably the future for United States efforts in space. NASA has become just another Government bureaucracy. The fire of pioneering, of exploration, has gone out in its belly, so to speak. I hope and trust that other companies will follow SpaceX and Bigelow (which hopes to fly its own private spacecraft soon).
Onward to the stars! I wish I were young enough to make the trip . . . but I'm afraid that won't happen, barring some unforeseen breakthrough. Still, I can dream, can't I?
Peter
3 comments:
Someone once did a side by side contrast of the progress and money spent by the Wright brothers, versus the various men such as Langley who convinced Congress to give them money to create a flying machine.
As a weekend wings article, that would be some education and I can't think of a better person to do it than you, Peter.
Onward to the stars! I wish I were young enough to make the trip . . . but I'm afraid that won't happen, barring some unforeseen breakthrough. Still, I can dream, can't I?
Pray harder, Peter.
That was thrilling--more so than the shuttle launches which carried my friends into orbit all those many years ago. The private aspect is the real high, for me.
Leatherneck
Peter, if it were possible, you'd have to hustle to get ahead of me. Remember all those books stacked on the hutch when you visited?
:-)
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