Daily Times

When Apollo 11 mission lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center, USA, on April 16, 1969, it carried on board Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. These two men became the first humans to set foot on the moon. The telecast to this historic launch was shown on the United States’ national television. The world received got to know about the details of this historic event after a few days through print media. The communication channels during those days were limited and slow.

On May 30, 2020, another momentous space mission was launched. This moment transpired nearly 51 years after the Apollo 11 mission. For the first time in the history of the US space program, the spacecraft, rocket, and crew cabin for a launch were designed, built, and operated by a private company, SpaceX. Owned by Elon Musk, a celebrated yet controversial space enthusiast did envision space travel by a commercial company years ago. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s first piloted Crew Dragon ferry ship with astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken on board, flew from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22:45 p.m. EDT. Its destination: the International Space Station. While the Apollo 11 mission’s details reached the world after several hours and perhaps days, the launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was viewed by the world LIVE on social media. Will this launch pave the way for humans to travel into space? It is too early to predict. Nevertheless, with this launch by a private sector, the process may as well speed up for commercial flights to begin from Earth to the International Space Station and beyond.

One aspect remains clear: NASA and SpaceX will bring the competition to those countries that have a space mission. China is one of them. Beijing plans to have a permanent Chinese space station

“This is the culmination of a dream. If you asked me when starting SpaceX if this would happen, I’d be like, 1 percent, 0.1 percent chance. It’s an absurd thing to even consider. I’m extremely appreciative of NASA for supporting us from actually quite an early stage and taking a chance on a little company that didn’t really have that much of a chance. But you know, it worked out,” Elon Musk said media before the launch. This historic mission is the first orbital flight of a piloted spacecraft in 39 years. It is the zenith of a six-year plan worth billions of dollar. The objective of NASA is to end its sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for transporting astronauts to and from the space station.

The US and Russia in July 1975 created the Apollo-Soyuz partnership. According to this agreement, the US used the Soviet Soyuz capsule for its launches. This was seen as the end of the Space Race between the US and Russia that began with Russia’s launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. Now that SpaceX has entered the space mission. This will end NASA and the United States’ dependency on Russia’s Soyuz. This space mission will probably facilitate the evolution of privately-owned and operated space stations. It is a blueprint concept being deliberated for years. However, its execution was being hurdled by limitations. These included operational costs and a human resource dedicated to monitoring and observing such privately launched space missions. SpaceX can effectively plan, launch and monitor space missions as it is equipped with the technology, equipment, resources, and manpower to handle such missions.

SpaceX first sent a rocket into orbit in 2008. In 2015, it created history by sending a rocket in space and then having it land on Earth following a successful orbiting mission. This was SpaceX’s innovative idea to use reusable rockets. This will decrease launch costs. In 2018, SpaceX launched a Telsa car in space. Telsa is a company focusing on electric car manufacturing. One of its owners is Elon Musk. Sending a car in space became a publicity stunt as the company saved billions on advertising.

This space mission also shows that the US is prepared for exploring space. It signifies the goals of NASA to continue sending manned and unmanned missions in orbit. It is yet to be seen how Russia will respond to NASA using a SpaceX rocket and not the Soyuz rocket. Will it compel Russia to resume its Space Race with the US or will Russia focus on the geopolitical challenges on Earth? Time will tell. One aspect remains clear: NASA and SpaceX will bring the competition to those countries that have a space mission. China is one of them. Beijing plans to have a permanent Chinese space station. It is also looking forward to send crewed missions to the moon. The space race as we know it may as well have become ever more competitive. It will be the US versus China in a quest to explore and dominate what lies beyond the stars.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist