[wpaudio url=”https://media.shellypalmer.com/wp-content/images/usrn/120601_SHELLYPALMER_GEN_BED.mp3″ text=”Click to play … ” dl=”0″]
Now that SpaceX has ushered in the era of privatized space travel. Where do we go from here? Yesterday, Dragon, SpaceX’s Appolo-like space capsule successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just off Baja California. The flight was monitored by NASA, SpaceX and every other organization that could possibly monitor a spacecraft landing on the Earth. SpaceX is a private company doing contract work for the government – but it certainly doesn’t have to. In 1492, Queen Isabella I of Castileand King Ferdinand II of Aragon decided to fund Christopher Columbus’ expedition in the hope of bypassing Portugal’s monopoly on west African routes to “the Indies” by travelling west across the Atlantic. America may have been discovered by a government contractor, but it didn’t take long for private investors and private companies to become the dominant players. What will happen in space? Go re-watch the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, change the logos to ones you recognize and you’ll have a good idea.