Private mission’s important innovations launch new space age

Mmillions of people around the world cheered this week’s successful launch of a manned spacecraft by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS). It wasn’t always clear to everyone why this mission was being hailed as “historic.” After all, the ISS is only 400 kilometers above Earth and, over its 20-plus years, there have been countless such trips to it, by both the US (NASA) and Russia (Roscosmos). OK, this time it was by a private company, SpaceX, although partially funded by NASA, but does that make it such a big deal? And why now, while we have a pandemic to contend with? Are there no risks of contaminating the ISS, where disinfection would be very difficult?

Indeed, it was a bit surreal to see the astronauts and mission officials not wearing face masks; it was as if this whole event was happening pre-coronavirus, or was somehow totally disconnected and isolated from the rest of the world. But one should remember that space missions are always thoroughly disinfected (mainly with radiation) to ensure that no germs are ever carried to space.

This leads me to the strategic aspects of the latest mission, which NASA chief Jim Bridenstine described as “a high-priority mission for the United States of America.” Why? Because the US cannot afford, literally and figuratively, to keep paying Roscosmos $86 million for each American astronaut sent to the ISS. Indeed, since its space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011, NASA has sent 38 astronauts aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, at a total cost of $3.3 billion, with one more to go in November. Moreover, the US wants to be in total control of who, what and when to launch into space.

Most importantly, the US has always encouraged competition within the private sector in all fields. In space technology, as private companies started to emerge and mature, it became logical and strategic to entice them with contracts to push them to innovate and bring the price down.

This brings me to what I consider the most important aspect of this mission and the reason why it can be considered a historic moment and a step up in the history of spaceflight: SpaceX has made important innovations, most notably its ability to bring the main launch rockets back to land on Earth after successfully sending up a spacecraft. This has not only helped bring the overall price down by more than 30 percent (since rockets can be reused for dozens of flights), it has also allowed for the introduction of new safety measures.

And now that SpaceX has proven itself capable of handling manned missions — another first for this ambitious company — it can guarantee its financial future and safely and confidently pursue its bigger goal: Getting humans to Mars.

Who can believe that, nearly 50 years after the last manned landing on the Moon, no human has been sent farther than the ISS? If you had asked people, specialists and laymen alike, back in the 1970s about when we would walk on Mars, I imagine most would have said “the early 2000s.”

Granted, Mars is hundreds of times farther and harder to reach than the Moon (seven months each way, with all that this implies in terms of supplies and safety measures), but manned missions to the red planet kept being pushed back decades — that is until

Elon Musk (the visionary founder and owner of SpaceX) stepped up. Musk has always considered Mars his main goal, and he knows that taking people there requires important quantum leaps in space technology. But he is doing it, one development at a time.

This mission has opened up space to the private sector. The heavens are no longer reserved for the big superpowers (the US, Russia and China, with India soon to join); they are all of humanity’s, including private companies and people. This will multiply missions and goals, including trips to space stations, asteroids to mine, the Moon, Mars, and who knows where else.

The success of this new, different and somewhat spectacular mission (rockets separating, one of them landing back on a platform, everything broadcast live and in high resolution) comes at a good time for the US and the world. Much like back in the late 1960s, the US is suffering from deep political and racial divisions, while the world is also struggling to contain and overcome a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands and broken economies big and small. In such times, any project that unites people and turns their attention to loftier goals and vistas, where race and nationality do not matter, is very welcome.