WASHINGTON — A privately built space capsule that’s zipping its way to the international space station has launched something else: a new for-profit space race.
The capsule, called Dragon, was due to arrive near the space station for tests early today and dock Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies — run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk — was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.
And the space agency is hiring others too.
Several firms think they can make money in space and are close enough to Musk’s company to practically surf in his spaceship’s rocket-fueled wake. There are more companies looking to make money in orbit — at least eight — than major U.S. airlines still flying.
Private space companies have talked for years about ferrying goods and astronauts for NASA, but this is the first time one is actually in orbit and about to make a delivery for the space agency.
“Dragon is not the only entrant in commercial cargo,” said Jeff Greason, president of XCOR Aerospace, which specializes in the also-busy suborbital marketplace. “They have competitors nipping at their heels.”
Still, Dragon’s launch is “the spark that will ignite a flourishing commercial-spaceflight marketplace,” said Michael Lopez-Alegria, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and a former astronaut.
NASA has given seed money and contracts to several companies to push them on their way. But eventually, space missions could launch, dock to a private space station or hotel and return to Earth and not have anything to do with NASA or any other country’s space agency.
