Cape Canaveral reported that Falcon 9 safely landed in the designated area on the 21st of December,
It comes not a surprise when one would someone says that space travel is quite expensive. According to mission control at NASA, the cost of putting a shuttle into sub-orbit is around 70 million dollars per launch. But things are about to take a turn for the better because space travel will become cheaper.
Up until now, space exploration was more on the line: how much can we afford to put on a shuttle? rather than technical possibilities. But it seems that space flight will become affordable in the past, thanks to two outstanding space projects that have proved that you can sling-shot a shuttle into space without drilling a hole in one’s pocket.
On the 21st of December, a new chapter in the book of space conquest was written. The flight control center at Cape Canaveral has reported that Space X Falcon 9, Musk’s crowning achievement has made a successful landing on the landing strip.
The feat is, even more, impressive once we have learned that no piece of the craft was sacrificed during the launching and landing procedure. Falcon 9, swirled into the air like a robin and managed to make a flawless touchdown in the designated area.
Elon Musk, the think-tank behind the Space X program, an ambitious project meant to grant private companies the privilege of supervising the construction of space shuttles.
In terms of budget, Musk’s project could mark a turning-point in NASA’s view of space exploration. As we stated before, in the past, a routine space mission would cost NASA approximately 70 million dollars.
Space X’s project was evaluated at approximately 10 million dollars. Not only will future missions be much cheaper, but the flight crews will be able to reuse the craft, making the project more than feasible.
But, as we thrive on competition, Musk’s company wasn’t the only one to boast the idea of cheap space travel. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Bezos, Musk’s arch-enemy in the space race, proudly announced that his shuttle, named the New Shepard, was able to successfully land in it’s designated area, which happened to be a manless floating barge.
Although, Bezo’s project has yielded some spectacular results, the Blue Origin’s spacecraft was smaller than the Falcon 9.
Nevertheless, space travel will become cheaper due to the fact that the two space tycoons have demonstrated that even NASA needs a little lesson on sustainability once in a while.
We are eager to see if Musk’s and Bezo’s accomplishments will be put into practice. Using their feats, NASA could step up the development of space exploration vehicles.
Photo credits:www.wikipedia.org
