SpaceX is going to join a very exclusive club next year if they reach their goal--the club of those who are able to send humans into space. So far only a few governments have that ability.
Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) is the spacecraft which will take crew to the International Space Station in Q2 (second quarter) of 2018 for NASA. It will be powered by the Falcon Heavy rocket (to be tested this summer), the second most powerful vehicle ever to reach orbit, surpassed in history only by Saturn V.
photo: spacex.com
Russia was first to send humans into space and has been transporting US astronauts to the ISS with its Soyuz rocket, but that contractual partnership is ending. SpaceX will now be doing that for NASA (yesterday's post).
A spokesman for the Kremlin says, "“We have every reason to believe that we can compete” in space travel." But an American source says, "Their budget is not adequate to maintain a world-class space effort across the board.”
When SpaceX takes over this job, it will not only save US taxpayers a lot of money, but all the price of sending astronauts to the ISS will stay in the US :)
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