Author Topic: New rockets push boundaries of space travel  (Read 723 times)

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New rockets push boundaries of space travel
« on: June 28, 2018, 01:22:39 am »
The Straits Times 6/27/2018

At 5.24am on Friday morning (June 29), a rocket owned by the US company SpaceX will blast off from Florida carrying two-and-a-half tonnes of gear from Nasa, only to dock three days later and 400 kilometres above Earth at the International Space Station.

The rocket itself is not new. It launched a Nasa satellite into orbit two months ago, then landed back on Earth - upright - on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Canaveral.

Even the Dragon capsule, carrying the cargo and affixed to the top of the rocket was used before, having flown a mission to the ISS in 2016.

Friday's flight will be the 15th SpaceX mission for the US space agency since 2012, one of which exploded in flight.

Another company, Orbital ATK, has completed nine supply trips, with one explosion as well.

These missions may appear routine, but they represent a revolution in space travel. Before SpaceX, only national governments resupplied the space station.

Today, Nasa is so dependent on the private sector that the US space agency has signed contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to send astronauts to space beginning next year, as soon as their capsules are ready.

Nasa has been unable to send people to space since the space shuttle programme ended in 2011.

Instead, the world's space agencies buy seats aboard Russia's Soyuz spaceships, which launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

"The combination of government and private sector activity is unrivalled," said Dr John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.

More: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/new-rockets-push-boundaries-of-space-travel