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The future of space exploration has never been

so exciting. As NASA partners with SpaceX and

its Crew Dragon to land two of its astronauts

at the International Space Station - the first

successful launch in more than nine years from

US soil - many are asking what’ll come next, and

how we can utilize the skills of private space

firms to venture further and make history.

MAKING HISTORY

On Saturday, May 30 at 15:22, two American

astronauts lifted off from NASA’s iconic

Flordiaian launchpad, once graced by Apollo,

and made their way to the International Space

Station on May 31, a journey that would take

them more than 400 kilometers from Earth. The

trip itself wasn’t particularly groundbreaking,

it had been taken hundreds of times before

by astronauts around the world, but quickly

attracted the attention of aerospace enthusiasts,

partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing

us into lockdown, but also because it marked

the first time astronauts used a spaceship built

and launched by a private firm, in this case,

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Crew Dragon; the

beginning of a new era for space travel.

Built by SpaceX, the Crew Dragon was first

unveiled in May 2014, a seven-seat concept

vessel that, prior to being used by NASA, was

prototyped as the Dragon 1, launching 20

times to deliver cargo to the International

Space Station from 2012-2020. Alongside the

Falcon 9 rocket, also built by SpaceX, Robert

Behnken and Douglas Hurley set off on their

voyage, signaling a new direction for NASA.

Previously, the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration had a fleet of five spaceships

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