While other rideshare blogs tend to spam you with nothing but rideshare industry stats, facts, and tips, here at Drover, we like to mix it up a bit by writing about huge events. Today, we’re talking about something that could potentially be a history-changing event: the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission called Demo-2 launched two astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into orbit on a privately-owned Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket was designed and built by Elon Musk’s famous SpaceX company. The launch took place a couple of weeks ago on May 30.
We’ll discuss why the launch is so important to both NASA and SpaceX and what it could mean for space tourism. Yes, you read that correctly. Space tourism. But you’re probably wondering since this is such a historical event, why haven’t you heard more things about it before?
There’s a good reason for that…
Why Wasn’t This a Bigger News Story?
NASA's officials have said that they feel that this launch represents a beginning of a new chapter in human spaceflight. They also thought that this could be a moment that would bring all of the Americans together, similar to the Apollo Moon landing back in 1969.
However, not many people talked about it during the launch date and even fewer people are talking about it now. Such a big event as launching people into space can’t possibly go so unnoticed. Well, it did, and we have an idea why there was so little talk surrounding the Demo-2 mission.
In a recent CNBC interview, Bob Behnken said that he feels that there are exactly two reasons for the lack of media coverage. The first is the global COVID-19 outbreak and the second one is the protest rallies that are currently happening all over the United States.
Nonetheless, Mr. Behnken still hopes that the mission will send a positive message. According to him, from space “no boundaries” can be observed. You only see that it’s a single planet all of us share. Besides being a symbol of unity, the launch is meaningful to many parties for several reasons.
What Does the Launch Mean for NASA
It’s been almost 60 years since NASA put the first American in orbit, more than 50 years since they put a man on the Moon, and exactly 40 since they started launching space shuttles into orbit. However, things have changed a lot since then.
NASA hasn’t put a man on the Moon since the original Apollo program was shut down. What’s more, due to increasing costs and higher risk, the space shuttle program was canceled nine years ago. After that, America was left without a mechanism for sending people to space.
The fact that both President Trump and Vice President Pence were present for the launch means a lot to NASA. In the last couple of years, NASA has been struggling to get government support and secure finance. This could be a step toward a better relationship.
It also seems that the President is really enthusiastic about space travel. Trump is only the third US president to witness a shuttle launch. Furthermore, the current administration is hoping to get American astronauts back on the Moon by the end of their second term.
What Does the Launch Mean for SpaceX
Even though the mission is a huge success for NASA, it’s actually a much bigger accomplishment for people at SpaceX. For Elon Musk and his team, this is a huge milestone and a big step towards their goal of making humans “multi-planetary.” Of course, this is not the company’s first launch.
As a matter of fact, they managed to launch several spacecrafts and satellites in the past. However, all of those crafts we’re operated remotely by a person on Earth. This will be the first time that Elon Musk will put a person in orbit. For a private businessman, this is more important than you can imagine.
As Chris Quilty, the founder of Quality Analytics said in a recent interview, this is the first time in history that a privately- owned company has managed to accomplish something only done by state-funded programs in the past. Before, only three countries managed to do this successfully.
The Historical Significance of the NASA SpaceX Launch
The launch can lead to an ocean of new opportunities. Possibly the most interesting is the possibility of starting the age of commercial space flights. Not only would this be a great source of revenue for Elon Musk but also open doors for new companies to start developing their own rockets.
SpaceX is already trying to make this a reality. Just a couple of months ago, the company signed a deal with Axiom for three ten-day missions to the International Space Station. If everything goes right with the first flight, this will be the first privately-funded trip to the International Space Station.
Needless to say, a lot of pieces need to fall into place for this deal to come through. The first flight is scheduled for next year and a lot of things can happen during that time. The second and third flights depend heavily on the success of the first mission.
But if everything, in fact, goes as planned, the Axiom/SpaceX collaboration could be the first step we take toward life on Mars. Given the way things are going, Elon Musk might just send at least a million people to Mars in the next 30 years. That’s why the Falcon 9 mission is so important.
The launch could be the cornerstone we’ve been waiting for.
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Will we be able to travel to the Moon and back in just a few decades? From the looks of things, that’s a possibility. Until we start flying around in Jetsons-like spaceships, we still need normal ridesharing. If you need ridesharing in Nashville make sure to download the Drover app and get a ride now.
