NASA ROCKET LAUNCH WILL PUT AMERICA BACK IN THE SPACE RACE

...and bring us one giant step closer to sending tourists into orbit

- Peter Sheridan

IMAGINE legendary race driver Enzo Ferrari’s worst nightmare: his sleek sports car breaks down, he runs out of cash, and has to borrow a friend’s Toyota hatchback to drive around town. That’s how embarrassing the past decade has been for American space agency Nasa. For the past nine years it hasn’t put a single crewed rocket into space.

The nation that once led the space race, sending six awe-inspiring missions to the surface of the Moon, was reduced to paying the Russians to hitch a ride on their Soyuz spacecraft every time it wanted to put US astronauts on the International Space Station. Until now.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, US astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will be launched into space by an American rocket for the first time since 2011. More importantly, the SpaceX Dragon will mark a historic advance in space travel as the first commercial spacecraft carrying astronauts into Earth orbit.

“If successful, it’s a giant leap towards a planned return to the Moon, and even putting a crew on Mars,” says space technology expert Doug Messier, editor of Parabolic Arc. “It’s a major step forward, giving America the ability to launch its own people into space without relying on the Russians.

“Crucially, it will allow us to get seven people up on the International Space Station, which will double the amount of research getting done, as so much of the crew’s time is spent on maintenance.”

The mission could also open up space to commercial payloads and tourism.

US aerospace company Axiom recently signed a deal with SpaceX to ferry paying passengers to the ISS as early as next year.