Dragon Capsule Could Be 1st Private Craft To Dock With ISS 178
thomst writes "Space News reports that NASA has given tentative approval for SpaceX to combine the two remaining flights designed to prove the Hawthorne, Calif., company can deliver cargo to the international space station, according to William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, although formal approval for the mission is still pending. If NASA does approve the plan, SpaceX's Dragon capsule would be the first civilian spacecraft actually to dock with the International Space Station. According to NASA spokesman Joshua Buck, the current plan calls for SpaceX to launch a Dragon capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 30, which would then rendezvous and dock with the space station on Dec. 7 — a day that would live in spaceflight history."
Unmanned I assume (Score:5, Insightful)
Dragon is a few years away from being man rated.
Re:Unmanned I assume (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't matter
If it can be used for cargo, NASA will gladly pay the money
Of course, the more it can be used to send humans the better.
Re:SpaceX vs. NASA vs. Russians vs. Chinese (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder where they will be able to cut costs.
To put it bluntly: everyfuckingwhere. They got one thing very, very right: distaste for subcontractors. They figure they can control quality and leadtimes better if they do things in-house, and they don't have to support other companies' profits. It's simple, but it works wonders. There are plenty of simple business strategies that work very well out there, it seems.