SpaceX managed to successfully land its rocket after it was launched from NASA’s Florida launch pad, the same one that was used for taking Neil Armstrong and Buz Aldrin to the moon, in NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon supply craft launched at 9:38 am Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocked managed to fulfill its mission, bringing supplies to the ISS after which it managed to land back to the Earth undamaged.
SpaceX announced it has plans of taking two persons around the moon, and the successful launch is another step in achieving the goal of starting age of the private space tourism. Russian space agency already sent seven persons to the near-Earth orbit, but no private company managed to send tourists to space.
The space-faring company asked NASA to join it in sending tourists to the moon, but the space agency still hasn’t responded to the invite.
NexGen Space President Charles Miller thinks NASA should accept the invite, since saying no could make the American citizens see NASA as irrelevant and unimportant when it comes to space travel. He noted that SpaceX will, eventually, reach the moon with NASA’s help or without it so it’s better for the agency to join Elon Musk’s company.
The private space-faring company already shared some details about its upcoming moon mission, the company will start rocket testing this summer, with the Falcon Heavy rocket being used for the mission. The goal is to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the crewed Dragon 2 spacecraft to the moon. The Dragon 2 craft should have the first test flights in November 2017, with the mission slated for 2018. It should send two private citizens around the moon, on a weeklong trip.