The ships are meant to be used in the ever increasing trips to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
Elon Musk who helped shape the online monetary system Pay Pal is one of the masterminds behind SpaceX. Musk recently spoke with CNN about his new vision for space travel.
“It’s time for NASA to hand that over to commercial industry who can then optimize the technology and make it more reliable, make it much lower cost and make it much more routine,” said Musk to CNN.
NASA and SpaceX will work together to launch the company’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle on Friday. The Falcon 9 will be carrying a new Dragon capsule, which is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft that can carry passengers.
Musk thinks that with the work of his new company along with some possible help from Congress in changing the restrictions on space travel, the United States could take a large step forward in the field of space exploration.
“If the country executes and the administration and Congress execute in that direction, the impact of these changes will be on par, perhaps even greater, than ... the task that Kennedy put us on to,” said Musk.
Musk is a physicist as well as a business owner. He graduated with a physics degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently an active member of the Stanford University Engineering Advisory Board.
The ISS has been receiving a lot of traffic with astronauts delivering cargo compartments as well as additional docking mechanisms for the space station. Spaceships Discovery and Atlantis both made recent flights to the ISS.
In addition to working with companies like SpaceX, NASA also conducted a recent test flight of a space jet in a collaboration with the U.S. Air Force.
SpaceX Cargo Rocket Launch a Success (UPDATE)
NASA announced an upcoming test flight for the new SpaceX line of spacecraft that are specifically designed for quick trips to and from space.
By Ian Ritz
6/4/2010
Updated: 10/1/2015
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 spacecraft successfully left Earth’s atmosphere and entered orbit on Friday. SpaceX, a private production company based in Hawthorne, Calif. that is working with NASA on space transportation, designs its crafts specifically for quick trips to and from space.