SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is grappled by the International Space Station on Fri., May 25, 2012.
Image Credit: NASA
Yesterday's successful splashdown and recovery of the
SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft concluded a groundbreaking mission that marks a change in the way business is done in space. Instead of being designed to a top-down list of requirements from NASA, the vehicle was designed internally by SpaceX for carrying cargo and eventually crew into space. (NASA, as the original primary customer through the
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program does have input for some incremental changes to satisfy safety requirements.) SpaceX will soon be joined by
Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) in delivering cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). OSC will start launching their
Cygnus/Antares vehicles from the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island, VA later this year.
Beyond cargo delivery, the Dragon flight also advances the prospect of
commercial crew services to the ISS in a few years. Other markets, such as
Bigelow Aerospace commercial space stations will foster an exciting expansion of commercial space activity in the near future.
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