You go to sleep, everything’s normal. You wake up, there’s a flying space Dragon. Yep, the era of commercial space travel began at Cape Canaveral at 3:44 a.m. today with the launch of Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket containing the Dragon capsule. It’s headed for the International Space Station to deliver a half ton of supplies.
At a post-launch press conference, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk compared the moment with the time in the 1990s when commercial interests took over development of the Internet, and dramatically accelerated the pace of development and made it accessible to mass markets.
“I hope and I believe this mission will be historic in marking that turning point towards a rapid advancement in space transportation technology,” said Musk, a South African-born entrepreneur who became a billionaire through helping found the Internet service PayPal, then started a space business in 2002.
Elon Musk is 40 by the way. Just 40. If you’re 40 or over, how many private spaceships have you launched? If you’re under 40, better get on that? Either way, my point is, feel terrible about yourself.
If this all goes well, it will be a big step forward in the post-Space Shuttle era of space travel.
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