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 For the first time ever a purely commercial venture has received clearance to attempt a docking with the International Space Station. A US-based commercial space venture, SpaceX, has been cleared by NASA to send its Dragon space capsule to dock with the $100-billion International Space Station.
Hitherto such attempts have been the exclusive preserve of space faring nation with requisite technology skills and financing, such as the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency. NASA announced Friday that private company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, will attempt to launch its 18-story, Falcon 9 rocket on 7 February 2012, pending completion of final safety reviews, testing and verification. In a statement, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the mission "will mark a historic milestone in the future of spaceflight.'' A successful conclusion of the mission will also allow the company to become a strong contender to bid for a $1.6-billion contract with NASA to haul cargo to the space station in 12 flights. It would make the company the front-runner for the potentially multibillion-dollar job of ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. NASA recently retired its fleet of space shuttles.
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