On Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. SpaceX's Falcon 9 launched Crew Dragon's second mission at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, & the following day Crew Dragon autonomously docked to the International Space Station.
SpaceX is returning human spaceflight to the America with one of the safest, most advance systems ever built, and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is a turning point for America’s future in space exploration that lays the groundwork for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
At an average distance of 140 million miles, Mars is one of Earth's closest habitable neighbors. Its atmosphere is primarily CO2 with some nitrogen and argon and a few other elements, which means that we can grow plants on Mars just by compressing the atmosphere. Gravity on Mars is about 38% of that of Earth, Furthermore, the day is remarkably close to that of Earth.
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” -Elon Musk
SpaceX believes a fully and rapidly reusable rocket is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access. The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which historically has flown only once.
Compare that to a commercial airliner – each new plane costs about the same as Falcon 9 but can fly multiple times per day and conduct tens of thousands of flights over its lifetime. Following the commercial model, a rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of traveling to space by a hundredfold.
While most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry, SpaceX rockets can not only withstand reentry but can also successfully land back on Earth and refly again.
Starship will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit. Drawing on an extensive history of launch vehicle and engine development programs, SpaceX has been rapidly iterating on the design of Starship with orbital-flight targeted for 2020.
SpaceX offers commercial flights for private passengers to both Earth and Lunar orbit. To start planning your journey, please sign up.
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