Breaking

What the future of the space station looks like after SpaceX’s historic launch - The Verge
Jun 02, 2020 1 min, 30 secs

With the success of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon launch this weekend, NASA now has the capability to launch its own astronauts from the US once again — and that means changes are in store for the future of the International Space Station.

Since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA and Russia’s space corporation, Roscosmos, have been locked in a symbiotic relationship.

NASA needed Russia in order to get its own astronauts and international partners to the International Space Station.

Now that NASA has a brand-new ride, that once codependent relationship between the space agencies is going to evolve.

That positive reaction stands in stark contrast to Rogozin’s comments from 2014, when he publicly decried US sanctions against the Russian space industry and made a dig at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

“After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline,” Rogozin tweeted at the time.

For now, NASA maintains that its relationship with Roscosmos is strong, and the space agency did purchase one additional seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket for this fall.

Though SpaceX was the first to fly astronauts, the company is not the only company working on a private spacecraft for NASA.

That means for the year ahead, SpaceX will probably be the only private company sending astronauts to the ISS.

But once Boeing demonstrates it can dock the Starliner safely with the space station and then bring the capsule home, the company will also send its own crew into orbit.

With this change, eventually other people might join NASA astronauts on journeys to the space station.

NASA is also making the space station available for commercial opportunities, something the agency has been strictly against in the past.

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED