While many are congratulating America, NASA and SpaceX for launching astronauts into space for the first time in nearly a decade, there are many other positives to this story. One of the key ones is that it opens the door, widely, to private space exploration. Read on to find out more.
Saturday’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successful launch was a spectacle that the world gathered to celebrate. It was a dream come true for SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk; who had always had the vision of sending people to space. It is also remarkable because it is the first time a private company is sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
You can follow the events live as they happen via this YouTube video below:
The two NASA astronauts; Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, should reach the ISS by today. Now, here is how SpaceX’s achievement could open doors for further private space exploration.
First, it means that more private investors would be looking to pour money into space technologies backing private companies. For many governments, besides Chinese, American and Russian ones; they also get more options to pick from when they want to send their astronauts to space.
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As Margaret Weitekamp, head of the space history department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum said in an interview with The World’s Marco Werman:
“Being able to add private companies providing not only cargo but crew service to the International Space Station removes, at some level, the overreliance on the vagaries of geopolitics.”
She further said it would allow government-backed researchers to focus their attention on proper space exploration; instead of on building the vehicles to carry them there.
In addition to this, it is likely that in the near future, people who can afford it will be able to go to space. There were reports in February 2020 that NASA had contracted SpaceX and Boeing Co. to fly tourists to the ISS. However, for now, there is no concrete detail regarding this.
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