SpaceX launch goes off smoothly, NASA calls it a “new era” in spaceflight
After a delay last week, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral early this morning with an unmanned ship bringing supplies to the International Space Station. NASA called the launch a “new era” in spaceflight, as it hopes to eventually outsource such missions to private companies.
The mission is considered the first test of NASA’s plan to outsource space missions to privately funded companies now that its fleet of space shuttles is retired. SpaceX aims to prove to NASA that its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule are ready to take on the task of hauling cargo – and eventually astronauts – for the space agency.
“Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration; a private company has launched a spacecraft to the International Space Station that will attempt to dock there for the first time,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a speech at the cape. “And while there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are certainly off to good start.”
In a separate news conference, Elon Musk, SpaceX’s 40-year-old billionaire founder and chief executive, spoke at company headquarters in Hawthorne. It was there that SpaceX employees had gathered, watched and cheered as the Falcon 9 climbed toward the heavens.
“There’s so much hope riding on that rocket,” he said. “When it worked … and they saw their handiwork in space and operating as it should, there was tremendous elation. For us, it’s like winning the Super Bowl.”
But the launch is just the beginning, and the toughest tasks in the mission lie ahead.
The Dragon capsule will rendezvous with the space station as it circles the Earth at about 17,000 mph. Once the Dragon catches up to the station, it must complete a series of complicated tests to determine if it is ready to dock.
If all goes well, the crew aboard the station will snag the spacecraft with a robotic arm and lead it in. SpaceX hopes to dock the Dragon, which is designed to carry up to seven astronauts, as early as Friday.
After years of testing, NASA is hoping to turn the job of carrying cargo and crews over to private industry at a lower cost. Meanwhile, the agency will focus on deep-space missions to land probes on asteroids and Mars.
The agency has poured nearly $400 million in seed money into SpaceX in hopes that the company can one day complete routine missions to the space station. NASA is doling out $63 million to the Russians each time it wants to send an astronaut to the station.
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