Friday, July 13, 2012

SpaceX Makes Progress On Manned Spaceflight

Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight firm run by Elon Musk, said Thursday that it has completed a design review for a crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft. The company--which has been seeking to start delivering astronauts to space--said NASA review covered details on each phase of a potential, crewed mission, including crew living arrangements, weight and power requirements for its spacecraft, and more. "The successful conclusion of the concept baseline review places SpaceX exactly where we want to be -- ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade," Musk said in a statement. SpaceX made history in May with its first, successful mission to the International Space Station, and is now hoping to move towards flying astronauts to space.