Thursday, August 30, 2007

SpaceX Gets NASA Safety Approval

El Segundo-based SpaceX, which is developing commercial space launch vehicles, said last night that the firm has received initial approval from a NASA Safety Review panel. The company said that its Dragon spacecraft has passed three phases of review from NASA, as part of an effort to develop a cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. SpaceX is one of the groups which NASA is looking to use as a commercial provider of services to replace the aging Space Shuttle; the firm is participating in the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which is looking for commercial providers of space transport services to serve the International Space Station. SpaceX is headed by PayPal founder Elon Musk.