We’re one step closer to the commercializing of space flight. (We wouldn’t have to rely on such commercialization if Nasa could get more than 75 cents per year in funding, but that’s another story altogether.) Space X’s lifter’s engine ran successfully at the weekend, which means that the capsule, named Dragon, can be launched tomorrow from Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk: literally building rockets in his spare time.
What happens now is that the Falcon 9 will be shot up into the heavens tomorrow, but the actual test will be to see whether or not the Dragon capsule can separate from the lifter and make four orbits around Earth. After the fourth orbit, the lifter will then return to the planet, gently falling down to the Pacific Ocean, near California.
That’s the plan, at least.
And, if this all goes correctly, Nasa may well let the Dragon say hi to the International Space Station some time in the future.