How Elon Musk's company SpaceX became NASA's go-to for crewed missions

In a historic milestone for United States, liftoff of first full-fledged taxi flight for NASA by a private firm that is Elon Musk’s X that launched four astronauts to International Station was successful. With spectators nearby, X Falcon rocket blasted off at night from Kennedy Center with three Americans and one Japanese, which is also second crew to be launched by company but marking first of regular station crew flight. company named Dragon capsule on top, Resilience in wake of challenges posed by this year and especially COVID-19 pandemic, and it reached orbits nine minutes after detaching from rocket.

How X became a goto company for NASA?

NASA resorted to private companies to haul cargo and crew to International Station (ISS) after shuttle fleet retired in 2011 and X qualified for both. While first NASA-X launch marked Kennedy Station back in astronaut-launching action, it has given NASA an opportunity to avoid buying seats worth $90 million each on Russian Soyuz rockets. NASA ministrator Jim Bridenstine stressed on magnificent launch that “this is a six-month mission and it’s first of many.”

X has officially become a reliable private firm for NASA to resume its shuttle programme mostly because of its first successful launch and return of X astronauts earlier this year. This is momentous for Elon Musk’s company but it has budded from tragic incident of February 1, 2003, when shuttle Columbia was extensively damd while entering Earth and caused death of all seven astronauts aboard. It was this launch nearly two deces early that led to US ministration of President George W Bush to anunce decommissioning of shuttle after completion of ISS in 2011.

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This meant that United States is required to develop a whole new vessel to take American astronauts to Earth’s natural satellite, Moon. In 2004, former NASA ministrator Mike Griffin h said that completion of Station would open a window for a spectrum of opportunities for commercial companies to transport cargo and even astronauts to ISS. Meanwhile, Elon Musk founded X in 2003, a company that he described with an objective of turning humanity into a multi-planetary civilisation.

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'Better for US...'

Even though Musk’s company continued to face both monetary and ministrational challenges including explosion of Falcon 9 on launch p in 2016 and this pushed timeline of commercial flights with several years, historic launch of May 30 this year lifted spirits of both NASA and X, chiefs of which even indulged in a war of words. Despite rocky ro, commander of X’s first crew, Doug Hurley reportedly stressed, “Bottom line: I think it’s just better for us to be flying from United States if we can do that,” he told Associated Press last week.

Moreover, May 30 mission was hailed as ‘history-making’ because it marked return of US to after nearly nine years. America h been successful in sending off US astronauts in a commercially built craft from American soil after 2011 when last Shuttle went off. However, Shuttle crew h placed an American flag on International Station that said “only to be removed by crew launching from KSC”, that is Kennedy Center. X, n claimed in 2011 that a project which will mark return of flag was underway, Musk recalled that it on May 31 as mission was accomplished with Falcon 9 launch. 

X CEO Elon Musk h even retweeted  post by company from 2011 when it anunced that ‘flag capturing sequence’ has commenced. While most people on internet h forgotten about claim, ‘man of few words’, Musk me sure that his followers remember his ‘promise’ has been delivered by NASA-X Crew Dragon launch on May 30 from Kennedy Center’s Launch P 39A.

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