SpaceX Impact on the Space Navigation Industry

Author: Dalin Try

Editor: Shannon Tan

Art: Austin Xu

SpaceX is an aerospace manufacturer and space navigational company founded in the United States by Elon Musk in 2002. Among the aspects that make SpaceX remarkable are the contributions it has made towards the growing space navigational industry, of which these past months SpaceX was able to launch their first crew flight called Crew Dragon on May 31st, 2020 with NASA astronauts on board. This marked the beginning of the commercial space industry and the first crewed flight in history, transforming the space navigational industry and allowing the U.S. space industry to have continued access to the International Space Station. Furthermore, SpaceX was able to expand to commercial space flights available for citizens who are interested in visiting outer space; however, this would still require time and development to refine the smaller details. In addition, this would also allow SpaceX to achieve its mission of bringing passengers to Mars and beyond.

This mission also brings further significance because it was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a much-needed distraction from the current crisis that the world is facing. Even more so, this also was a collaboration between SpaceX and NASA where they both played different significant roles in this mission: SpaceX providing the rocket and NASA providing their highly trained astronauts. This collaboration provided a significant link between the collaboration of public and private entities, showing what results collaboration can yield.

SpaceX is the first private company, besides from government organizations that have successfully launched a crewman flight. This would further bring in opportunities to advance the space navigational industry and revolutionize the way technology could be developed more sustainably. Although, the company first started with Elon Musk’s idea to possibly colonize Mars, due to environmental issues that could make humans go extinct. However, this also raises further ethical questions about Mars colonization due to global warming. To conclude, there are many years to come and many more details to refine, but SpaceX will surely make a massive impact on the space navigational industry and revolutionize the future of technology.

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Citations:

Cohen, Seth. “Why The SpaceX Rocket Launch Is So Important To America.” Forbes, Forbes

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Etherington, Darrell. “SpaceX's Astronaut Launch Marks the Dawn of the Commercial

Human Spaceflight Industry.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 30 May 2020,

techcrunch.com/2020/05/30/spacexs-astronaut-launch-marks-the-dawn-of-the-commercial-human-spaceflight-industry/.