SpaceX Spacecraft Gets Initial Approval From NASA
8/30/07 – SpaceX, the El Segundo-based developer of space launch vehicles, has announced the successful completion of the first of three phases of review required by NASA’s Safety Review Panel to send the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The company says that this phase of the process involved the presentation of SpaceX’s plan for sending the cargo version of Dragon to the $100 billion orbiting space laboratory.
SpaceX says the review covered twenty-three specific hazards, with extra attention paid to the danger of collision, which is a primary topic of the safety review, and is generally considered one of the more difficult visiting vehicle topics, according to the company.
The company, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, is one of the first commercial space travel companies. As part of the Commercial Orbital Services competition, SpaceX was awarded a contract by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX says it intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering and docking abilities by 2009—a year before NASA has scheduled the conclusion of Space Shuttle operations.
SpaceX – www.spacex.com