PD Editorial: America opens a new chapter in space

With the successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the country that landed humans on the moon a half-century ago is once again in the rocket business.|
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Let's take a brief respite from pandemics and protests for a feel-good story: American astronauts traveled to the International Space Station aboard a rocket launched from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade. With Saturday's successful launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the country that landed humans on the moon a half-century ago is once again in the rocket business.

That alone is a milestone worth celebrating. But the mission also opens a new chapter for the U.S. space program. For the first time, American astronauts blasted off in a rocket owned by a private company. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule belong to SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk, who is best known for making Tesla electric cars.

Since retiring the space shuttle nine years ago, NASA's only option for sending crews to the space station was hitching rides on Russian rockets launched in Kazakhstan. Now, the U.S. space agency is partnering with SpaceX and Boeing for reusable space vehicles.

Musk envisions space tourism and a mission to Mars - adventures once limited to science fiction stories. But the next big test will be the return flight for astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley at the end of an open-ended mission. After that, America will be ready to return to the final frontier.

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