When NASA retires the space shuttle next year, the only Amercian-owned option the U.S. government will have for getting cargo to the International Space Staton is to ride with a private spaceflight company. Such arrangement became viable in June, when SpaceX's Falcon 9- a 180-foot, kerosene-and-liquid oxygen-fueled rocket capable of delivering six metric tons of cargo or seven astronauts to orbit-made its maiden voyage to space.SpaceX engineers designed nearly every piece from scratch, and made the Falcon 9 affordable enough that the company will haul cargo to space for $133 million per trip, compared with $450 million for each space -shuttle flight. SpaceX could begin regular cargo flights to the ISS as early as next year.
checkout spacex.com for details
