SpaceX Capsule Returns To Earth With Lab Results

An anonymous reader writes SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft has splashed down in the Pacific Ocean carrying NASA cargo and scientific samples from the International Space Station. A boat is ferrying the spacecraft to a port near Los Angeles, where NASA said the 1.5 tons of materials will be removed and returned to the space agency by late tomorrow for scientists to pick apart. "This mission enabled research critical to achieving NASA's goal of long-duration human spaceflight in deep space," said Sam Scimemi, director of the International Space Station division at NASA headquarters.

Comments

Curious economics of private spaceflight

[CRCulver]

Back in the 1990s, I enjoyed reading Michael Flynn's future history beginning with Firestar . Flynn, an ardent libertarian, thought that as early as the turn of the millennium, private industry would be ready to offer all kinds of spaceflight services that the general public would rush to buy, such as FedEx delivery anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes. Years after Flynn's vision of when things would kick off, we finally are getting private spaceflight, but it seems like the only sure customer that these firms have is NASA. Isn't this less private spaceflight and more simple contracting out to aerospace firms that are friends to those in power just like in the olden days?

Re:Curious economics of private spaceflight

[Applehu Akbar]

Space tourism has emerged as an unexpected market, at the same time as the increasing difficulty of mining on Earth is leading to interest in extracting valuable minerals from asteroids. And the more satellites we put into orbit, the more servicing is needed to maintain them. Meanwhile, NASA finds itself, perhaps intentionally, with no domestic way of getting astronauts and material into LEO. Why not exploit this opportunity to develop and sell both materials ferries and manned craft? Once the private sector develops a man-rated craft, there will be no limits to what we can do.

Re: Curious economics of private spaceflight

[WindBourne]

Less than 1\3 of spacex launches are us gov launches. They can now exist without them. However, NASA is speading up spacex's programs. And since these are saving America billions, it makes sense to continue.