Dragon Capsule Could Be 1st Private Craft To Dock With ISS

thomst writes "Space News reports that NASA has given tentative approval for SpaceX to combine the two remaining flights designed to prove the Hawthorne, Calif., company can deliver cargo to the international space station, according to William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, although formal approval for the mission is still pending. If NASA does approve the plan, SpaceX's Dragon capsule would be the first civilian spacecraft actually to dock with the International Space Station. According to NASA spokesman Joshua Buck, the current plan calls for SpaceX to launch a Dragon capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 30, which would then rendezvous and dock with the space station on Dec. 7 — a day that would live in spaceflight history."

Comments

Re:the magic of competition

[PopeRatzo]

At a fraction of the cost! If this doesn't show how competition in the private sector is miles ahead of any State enterprise, I don't know what doeS!

The first one is always free (or cheap).

It's called a loss leader, to bring you in the door. When there are only one or two space "providers", it will become much more expensive to use the "private sector" than it will to let the government fund it.

Plus, we'll end up with the government subsidizing these space corporations that sell us space flight. Exactly what happened with military contractors, energy providers, telecommunications.

"Privatization" is a scam. It does not work, it will never work.