The most anticipated space mission for over a decade was a blasting success.
On Saturday 30th of May at 3.22pm, for the first time in almost a decade, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley were launched into space from American soil. The Falcon 9, operated and made by Elon Musk’s private company, successfully docked to the International Space Station the following day.
One might ask what significance this holds for the United States, and to what degree does this re-establish American presence in space travel.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and a host of other highly publicised issues facing the country, the thick cloud of swirling smoke left behind by the Falcon 9 may serve as almost a light at the end of the tunnel for the American people. Rather, a reminder of the scientific innovation they behold.
Feelings of pride and nostalgia was brought out by the elegant ascent of an engineering masterpiece, and an exciting future for private companies delving into space travel. That in itself, is revolutionary.
Although launched from a familiar location, the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the private company which sent the brave men up was a significant change.
Millions of eagerly anticipant fans watched online from around the world. President Donald Trump looked on from a front row seat, branding it “an inspiration for our country”.
The inspiring astronauts, Bob and Doug, have both flown twice before. The launch occurred three days late from the initial scheduled time due to Florida weather. The launch was a huge leap for space exploration and research, and many are excited about what this means for the future of space travel. Since 2011, the USA have been relying on other countries like Russia to ferry American astronauts into space making this launch incredibly exciting for NASA and those involved.
So, what does this mean for the future of space travel?
This is the first time in space travel history that a private company has flown NASA astronauts into space. These are promising but also unprecedented times for NASA, other private companies and entrepreneurs. This also means a change for the International Space Station. New vehicles could be making regular journeys transporting people to the Station from Florida. It truly is a new era for human space travel.
Other private companies have evidently been working on sending people up to space as well. Boeing is in the works of developing its own crew capsule. NASA has announced that they will be attempting to make the ISS available for commercial purposes. SpaceX has already confirmed that they will be attempting to send tourists up, although this would be far into the future due to the substantial cost of space travel.
The launch has further fuelled Elon Musk’s’ ambitions to travel to Mars. Musk formed SpaceX in 2002 and dreamed of building more affordable spacecraft that could one day take people to Mars and colonise it.
In order to begin to reach this goal his company had to prove that their rockets were indeed reusable (saving billions of dollars on rebuilding them) and they could successfully and safely launch astronauts into orbit. Due to the evident success, this proves that SpaceX is a viable company to achieve the goal of colonising. Musk has said that he plans to send an unmanned rocket to mars by 2022. The success of the launch has conveyed that Musk is on the right track to his goals and we must wait to see if his ambitions bear fruition.
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