SpaceX is on its way towards having the capsule approved for manned flights

Jul 13, 2012 09:29 GMT  ·  By

Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is definitely emerging as the leader of the pack, in a competition among private companies to provide NASA with the launch services it requires. Recently, SpaceX tool is yet another step forward.

Officials at the company announce that the manned version of the Dragon space capsule – which has already proven itself by flying in orbit and docking to the International Space Station – has just passed a critically-important design review test.

What this implies is that the company has now moved one step forward towards receiving approval from NASA for carrying its astronauts to destinations in low-Earth orbit, and potentially the Moon, Mars, or near-Earth objects (NEO).

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the co-founder of the PayPal Internet-based payment service, said at the time he started the company that he plans to have engineers develop both manned and unmanned versions of the Dragon space capsule.

The cargo version has already been proven under a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract with NASA, when it docked to the ISS and delivered cargo, earlier this year. Even as the vehicle was being developed, the manned version of the spacecraft was being put together.

The latter is being developed under a Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement, a part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Over the past few months, SpaceX exceeded a number of significant milestones in this direction.

During the latest assessments, SpaceX engineers presented NASA experts with the primary and secondary design elements of the manned Dragon capsule. The American space agency plans to use the vehicle to carry its own astronauts to the ISS, relinquishing its current dependency on Russia.

“SpaceX has made significant progress on its crew transportation capabilities,” explains the manager of the NASA CCP, Ed Mango. The federal agency is satisfied with the progress SpaceX has made over the decade since it was founded.

“We commend the SpaceX team on its diligence in meeting its CCDev2 goals to mature the company's technology as this nation continues to build a real capability for America's commercial spaceflight needs,” Mango concludes.