|
In 1996, the X
Prize Foundation offered
a $10 million prize for the “first non
government entity to launch
a reusable spacecraft to space two times in
two weeks.” This prize
was modeled after aviation challenges of the
early 20th century and
was intended to “spur the development of
low-cost spaceflight.” The prize was won by
a company named Scaled Composites in October
2004. Since this award, commercial interests
in space travel have
grown, most notably with SpaceX. The
ultimate goal of SpaceX is to
reduce the cost of space transportation and
ultimately to colonize
Mars. SpaceX is the most successful private
space flight company
today. They have worked with NASA to fly
supply missions to the ISS
and to take on satellite launches while NASA
continues to develop
their replacement for the Space Shuttle, the
Space Launch System.
Image Credit:http://www.spacex.com/gallery/orbcomm-2-mission-december-2015
|
