SpaceX Private Spaceship to Join Robotic Cargo Ship Fleet
by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor
Date: 21 May 2012 Time: 05:39 PM ET
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This still image from an animated video shows SpaceX's Dragon capsule in orbit. CREDIT: SpaceX |
The commercial aerospace firm SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif.) is set to launch its Dragon space capsule to the orbiting outpost for the first time Tuesday (May 22). The vehicle has made one test flight before, in 2010, but this will be the first time a non-government vehicle links up with the space station.
So far, a handful of robotic supply spaceships have been servicing the laboratory, including entries from Russia, Europe and Japan. The United States' space shuttle used to do the bulk of the heavy lifting, but now those vehicles are retired.
To fill the gap, NASA is hoping SpaceX's Dragon, as well as another commercial cargo freighter called Cygnus from Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., are up to snuff.end quote from:
http://www.space.com/15800-robotic-cargo-spacecraft-fleet.html
This is sort of where movies about private companies going into space actually begins happening in real life. I think we will see more of this especially with the director of "Avatar" and others financing potential mining of the asteroids with robotic ships in another company. This appears to be where science fiction starts to become present day reality in space.
And it is only a matter of time before these companies start springing up worldwide to fill the vacuum of space with interesting ideas and technologies.
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