Despite the recent lack of funding for NASA and general apathy for space exploration currently in the U.S., American are still reaching for the stars.
The latest development in mankind's continuing pursuit of the heavens came with little fanfare, though it suggests that we may have reached a new era of space exploration. On March 3, SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule successfully reached the International Space Station, providing 1200 pounds of much-needed supplies to the station.
This represents quite a milestone for the future of space travel. Back in October SpaceX became the first private company to deliver supplies to the station of NASA's behalf, and with the successful completion of this second mission, it appears that new era is coming wherein governments are no longer the sole provider of meaningful space travel.
This has happened right as Google announced that they would award $30 million dollars to the first private organization that can land a rover on the moon and have it successfully traverse the surface for 500 meters.
With the successful completion of this second (of 12 planned) mission by SpaceX, the writing is on the wall: the final frontier is open to anyone that can afford it. What will happen next is uncertain, but without a doubt SpaceX has proven that we don't need NASA as much as we may have previously thought.
That's not to say the mission didn't have its issues. Shortly after the capsule separated from its rocket, it was determined that 3 of its 4 thrusters were out of commission, providing a significant amount of skepticism as to whether or not they would be able to succeed. Propellant valves were named as the culprit, though the doubt lasted only a few days.
"Thruster pods one through four are now operating nominally. Preparing to raise orbit. All systems green," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk over Twitter on Friday.
Though it's still too early to say how long SpaceX will be able to continue effectively venturing out into space, this most recent mission should give armchair astronauts some hope for the future. Very soon it may be the case that money and ambition, and not political leverage, will be the only prerequisite for reaching for the moon.
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