SPACEX

Last week, another memorable step took place in the transition of our space program.  The federal government space agency, NASA, has stepped aside and American private enterprise is taking over.  SpaceX, a private American corporation, launched a rocket and unmanned space craft into lower Earth orbit and it has docked at the International Space Station (ISS).   This was the second in a series of demonstration launches to prove viability.  The spacecraft, named Dragon by SpaceX, was loaded with supplies for the astronauts staying in the space station.  They will fill it with used goods for its return flight to Earth.  It will fall into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California for recovery by its owners.  

The thrilling part of this, to me, is that SpaceX is only one of six or seven corporations working on the same goals.  Each group is working on its own designs...each trying to do it more quickly, economically.  Each hoping to make its fortune.  American ingenuity will win out.  This is the way capitalism works. 

John Kennedy is lauded for giving us the goal to land on the moon before the end of the decade of the sixties.  That got us there first but probably set back the overall development of a space program by years.  We dumped billions into the project for fifty years and now we are starting over.  Starting over without the government bureaucracy to hold us back.  Starting over without meaningless budgets and wastefull budget fights.  Starting over with people spending their own money and taking the chance of losing it.  Free enterprise will win out.  I hope I'm here to see a good part of it.
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