The New Age of SpaceX
Southern California is home to the world’s highest concentration of air and space technology, from the Spruce Goose to the International Space Station (ISS). The area’s scientists and engineers are adjacent to the endless Hollywood gossip scene. Guys like Howard Hughes would even cross between these worlds. Now, in this same backyard, a baby company (in aerospace standards-both in age and size), SpaceX formed in 2002 by founder Elon Musk of PayPal fame, is now on the brink of launching a new space age.
Last week, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth up to $3.1 billion to “collaborate on strategies for spaceflight”. This is particularly remarkable for a company whose initial attempts failed. However, on September 28 of this year, SpaceX became the first private commercial enterprise to achieve orbit with their Falcon 1 rocket. Now, they are hiring hundreds of professionals at their HQ in Hawthorne, CA.
The business plans created by an affordable trip to space are endless. Already, aside from the NASA contract, SpaceX has other commercial customers for its Falcon 9 rocket. Bigelow Aerospace, with 2 currently orbiting scale versions of their hotels, plans to launch with SpaceX in a few years – your 4-week stay will cost $15 million.
As a would-be astronaut myself, I am putting out my Letterman/Oprah call out to Mr. Musk who has an open invitation to talk to TZ anytime. We do know the company has been busy and the list of journalists trying to talk to them is long. Of course, some attention for the local space-tech fan-boys is always appreciated.
