The private spaceflight company SpaceX declared that 2012 would be the "Year of the Dragon" - a play on the current cycle of the Chinese calendar and the upcoming tests of SpaceX's
Dragon space capsule. For a time, it seemed as if SpaceX was regretting that slogan. Dragon was chosen as one of five competitors for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contest to develop a cargo/passenger craft to service the International Space Station. The Dragon program had enjoyed considerable success and was scheduled to be the first private spacecraft to visit and, if all went well, dock with the International Space Station (ISS). Unfortunately, with the need for more testing of the Dragon capsule delaying the launch from its original February 7, 2012 date to late March or even into April, it looked as though the Year of the Dragon was starting a bit late. .. Continue Reading
SpaceX Dragon's ultimate mission is Mars colonization
2 comments:
"why engineer when you can over-engineer?"
Now that's the attitude I'd choose if I had to pick an approach most likely to put a man on mars.
Come to think of it, it's an attitude that I'd choose for pretty much all forms of transport - I know it's more expensive and less efficient, but I just like the words "safety margin"
Cthel;
Agreed. As Alan Shepard once said, it's a very strange feeling to be lying flat on your back on top of several hundred tons of complex machinery and highly volatile chemicals, knowing that every single component was supplied by the lowest bidder.
cheers
eon
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