BBC Focus Magazine

[Shadowwolf]

A new era in space exploration dawned Tuesday as a slender rocket shot into the dark Florida sky before sunrise, carrying the first private spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.

"We're now back on the brink of a new future, a future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The significance of this day cannot be overstated."

The unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 3:44 a.m., carrying 1,300 pounds of food, clothing and scientific experiments on a demonstration mission to gauge the company's ability to safely and efficiently deliver supplies to astronauts staffing the orbiting station.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/22/tech/us-spacex/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Well it's away, Friday and they'll see whether or not to dock to the ISS.

[M Paul Lloyd]

I expect they are finally beginning to understand why space travel is so very expensive.
Such complicated systems and so much that can go wrong.

[MikeG]

I expect they are finally beginning to understand why space travel is so very expensive. )

The real cost is because everything is used only once. The Dragon is largely reusable, and if I'm not mistaken, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is even more so. NASA was famous at one point for overpaying for parts, and for being notoriously over budget. Thats why I support the private initiative. Theres nothing like the profit motive to bring down costs.

[Shadowwolf]

And yet NASA has been on occasion criticised for awarding contracts to the lowest bidder and it's not as if private groups cannot also run over budget if it means more money for them.

The profit motive is no winsome salve and as likely to create as many troubles as any public funded endeavour would.

Don't get me wrong, we need private industry in the space business to truly carve out a presence that would become a routine part of life like sir travel is today. What it's not is a case of now that private industry has finally gotten involved we'll now get around the inefficient public system.

[Shadowwolf]

Well the module has been given the all clear to approach the ISS and get docked via the manipulator arm. But in further regards to the private element in space travel there are some points worth bearing in mind that a comment on the blog by Anonymous1952 ably highlights.

SpaceX would be more accurately described as public private partnership than "commercial space travel".

At least 40% of the Dragon is publicly funded by NASA. Plus SpaceX is using the publicly financed facilities at Cape Canaveral. Their only "business" is supplying the ISS which is funded with taxes from around the world.

The problem is not the public private partnership which in many ways is very healthy and appropriate.

The problem is too many of those associated with SpaceX are opposing public funding of our social safety nets as they sing the praises of free market capitalism while at the same time they lap up massive subsidies from the public trough.

When hedge funds, venture capitalists, private business banks, and capital raised from stock sales fund 100% of such projects, then their advocates can brag about the success of private sector space travel.

Whilst the theft of wealth by the privileged 0.1% as the safety nets for societies most vulnerable get eroded is somewhat beyond the general remit, I do think it worth bearing in mind that so much of the private enterprise in space exists solely because of publicly financed endeavours and even direct financial support.

[MikeG]

Dragon successfully caught by ISS robot arm.

"It looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," NASA astronaut Don Pettit radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston.

Thats 2 out of 3 so far. The SpaceX team are already way ahead of their expectations (they were actively playing down expectations before launch - labeling this phase as nothing more than another test). If they get a successful splashdown now, they can claim 100% success.