The private company SpaceX made history with the docking of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, the most impressive feat yet in turning routine spaceflight over to the commercial sector.
The docking on Friday marked the first time a business enterprise delivered a supply ship to the space station.
“There’s so much that could have gone wrong and it went right,” said an elated Elon Musk, the young, driven billionaire behind SpaceX.
“This really is, I think, going to be recognized as a significantly historical step forward in space travel — and hopefully the first of many to come,” he said.
SpaceX still has to get its Dragon back next week with a load of science gear; the retro bell-shaped capsule is designed to splash down into the ocean, in the style of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
However, Friday was the crucial step, Musk said, and NASA agreed the next SpaceX mission could come as early as September.
After a three-day flight from Cape Canaveral, the Dragon closed in on the space station as two control centers — NASA in Houston and SpaceX in Hawthorne, California — worked in tandem.
A problem with the capsule laser-tracking system prompted SpaceX controllers to order a temporary retreat, but the problem quickly was resolved.
NASA astronaut Donald Pettit used the space station’s 17.6m robot arm to snare the gleaming white Dragon as the two craft soared 400km above Australia, a day after a practice fly-by.
“Looks like we’ve got us a dragon by the tail,” Pettit said once he locked onto Dragon’s docking mechanism.
NASA’s dressed-up controllers applauded. In contrast, their SpaceX counterparts — including Musk — lifted their arms in triumph and jumped out of their seats to exchange high fives.
The company’s youthful-looking employees — the average age is 30 — were still in a frenzy when Musk took part in a televised news conference a couple of hours later.
They screamed with excitement as if it were a pep rally and chanted, “E-lon, E-lon, E-lon,” as the 40-year-old Musk, wearing a black athletic jacket with the SpaceX logo, described the day’s events.
Alcohol was banned from the premises during the crucial flight operation, Musk said, “but now that things are good, I think we’ll probably have a bit of champagne and have some fun.”
The crowd roared in approval.
Although cargo hauls have become routine, Friday’s linkup was significant in that an individual company pulled it off. That chore was previously reserved for a small, elite group of government agencies.
Not only that, the reusable SpaceX Dragon is designed to safely return items, a huge benefit that disappeared with NASA’s space shuttles. It is the first US craft to visit the station since the final shuttle flight last summer.
“I think you know it, but you made history today,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said to the space station astronauts and everyone else involved in Friday’s docking. “It was an effort that will revolutionize the way we carry out space exploration.”
NASA provided seed money for SpaceX — US$381 million going into Tuesday’s launch, a small portion of the more than US$1 billion that the company has invested in the effort.
Two hours after the capture, the crew attached the Dragon to the space station as the congratulations poured in.
“Everyone who is working to push forward the space frontier recognizes that such a mission is a massive challenge, and I join the world in lauding this important accomplishment,” said Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company that is holding a seat for Musk aboard its SpaceShipTwo.
“Nearly 43 years after we first walked on the moon, we have taken another step in demonstrating continued American leadership in space,” said Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step onto the moon.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was