(Florida) During the 60s, the space race between the US and the USSR took man to the moon and advanced science 10 fold. However it cost the earth, even the space shuttle was prohibitively expensive to use and the Russian Shuttle after making only one unmanned flight in 1988 is rotting away in an abandoned hanger and the irony here is, it was actually superior to the NASA version.
Currently the big players are all country based, NASA from the US, ROSCOSMOS for Russia, CNSA for China and the European space agency (which hasn't yet launched a man into space) There are others, but only the big 3 have sent a man into space from their own soil, the main reason behind that is the disposable nature of sending anything into space. (Whilst the Space shuttle was reusable, the rockets that carried it into orbit weren't.) which as mentioned above costs.
However everything changed in 1984 when President Reagan signed into law the Commercial Space Launch Act Prior to the signing of this law, all commercial satellite launches in the United States were restricted by Federal regulation to NASA's Space Shuttle. This was followed in 1990 by President Bush senior signed into law the Launch Services Purchase Act: Which was a complete reversal of the earlier Space Shuttle monopoly, requiring NASA to purchase launch services for its primary payloads from commercial providers whenever such services are required in the course of its activities. However until 2004 it was illegal in the US for private enterprise to go into space but that was scrapped by Bush Jr when he signed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (anybody else notice the trend here) which allowed civilian companies to make going into space affordable.
Companies such as Space X and Blue Origin have revolutionised space travel with their rockets which can return to base after launch, thus allowing them to be reused. However whilst Blue Origin managed to launch a booster into space and return it to Earth under a powered landing,
SpaceX is the company which has made a name (And profit) for itself in reusable space flight.
Well next week SpaceX is going to resupply the International space station and it is not only going to reuse a Falcon 9 rocket, it is going to reuse a dragon capsule as well. The mission, will carry 4,800 lbs of food, water, and science experiments to the station in Earth orbit.
The Dragon capsule to be used went into orbit in April 2015. After it was retrieved from the Pacific, it was shipped back to SpaceX for a full refit. This reusing of equipment ensures that space travel will become affordable to a lot more people and that can only benefit us all.
Currently the big players are all country based, NASA from the US, ROSCOSMOS for Russia, CNSA for China and the European space agency (which hasn't yet launched a man into space) There are others, but only the big 3 have sent a man into space from their own soil, the main reason behind that is the disposable nature of sending anything into space. (Whilst the Space shuttle was reusable, the rockets that carried it into orbit weren't.) which as mentioned above costs.
However everything changed in 1984 when President Reagan signed into law the Commercial Space Launch Act Prior to the signing of this law, all commercial satellite launches in the United States were restricted by Federal regulation to NASA's Space Shuttle. This was followed in 1990 by President Bush senior signed into law the Launch Services Purchase Act: Which was a complete reversal of the earlier Space Shuttle monopoly, requiring NASA to purchase launch services for its primary payloads from commercial providers whenever such services are required in the course of its activities. However until 2004 it was illegal in the US for private enterprise to go into space but that was scrapped by Bush Jr when he signed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (anybody else notice the trend here) which allowed civilian companies to make going into space affordable.
Companies such as Space X and Blue Origin have revolutionised space travel with their rockets which can return to base after launch, thus allowing them to be reused. However whilst Blue Origin managed to launch a booster into space and return it to Earth under a powered landing,
SpaceX is the company which has made a name (And profit) for itself in reusable space flight.
Well next week SpaceX is going to resupply the International space station and it is not only going to reuse a Falcon 9 rocket, it is going to reuse a dragon capsule as well. The mission, will carry 4,800 lbs of food, water, and science experiments to the station in Earth orbit.
The Dragon capsule to be used went into orbit in April 2015. After it was retrieved from the Pacific, it was shipped back to SpaceX for a full refit. This reusing of equipment ensures that space travel will become affordable to a lot more people and that can only benefit us all.
