12/8/10 SpaceX: SPLASHDOWN!!!
I dedicate the name of this post to a tweet @SpaceXer sent on December 8th, which for me signified the end of the historic launch which happened that very day. SpaceX had launched their Falcon 9 rocket for the second time flawlessly. Not only that, the Falcon 9 also had the mission to deliver the Dragon capsule which sat atop the rocket into low earth orbit. From there, the Dragon capsule had to make 2 full orbits around the Earth, and come back down to earth, which involves re-entering our atmosphere safely, and deploying parachutes correctly in order to provide the safe trip all the way back down. All done flawlessly. On top of that, 8 free-flying payloads were also put on the Falcon 9 and were deployed safely including the first army-built satellite to fly in 50 years. For safety reasons, on almost every system and component (parachutes, reaction control thrusters, avionics etc...) there was some level of redundancy to ensure that if some part failed, Dragon could still make it home safely. Amazingly, not a single redundant system was necessary since all systems worked nominally...nominally? I guess that is another way of saying FLAWLESSLY!
Why was this a historic launch?
Here are some key points:
Today, a commercial space company for the first time in history was able to pull off what many expected to be a flight that only government space agencies could pull off. I don't blame the non-believers either, because up until this day only 6 government run space agencies have ever done this type of flight (This includes Russia, China, Japan, India, ESA, and NASA).
This launch was performed under a NASA run program known as COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services), which invests financial and technical resources to spur commercial space companies to provide crew and cargo safe transport capabilities. With this successful launch, SpaceX will only need a couple more launches before NASA is confident that it will be able to send astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station through 2015. This commercial system could very well replace the Space Shuttle, and make missions to the ISS a lot cheaper.
One important point which Elon Musk had made mention of many times during press conferences before and after the launch, is how NASA was very crucial in making SpaceX's success possible. I'm glad to see what appears to be a healthy Father and Son relationship between NASA and SpaceX. NASA believes that commercial companies can make a difference in how we get to space, and they are investing a good amount of money and expertise in helping SpaceX in their development.
Congratulations (Again!) to Elon Musk and the whole SpaceX team. Also, congratulations and thank you to NASA for helping SpaceX in their development.
"There is no I in team, nor in the words NASA or SpaceX" -Confucius
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