Elon Musk's groundbreaking at Launch Complex 40 paves the way for private rocket launches from Cape Canaveral.
Before breaking ground on a new launch complex Thursday, Internet mogul turned rocket developer Elon Musk compared having a rocket at the Cape to opening on Broadway.
"We expect to send people to the space station," said Musk, who plans to have a Falcon 9 rocket at historic Launch Complex 40 by late 2008.
"I can't say for sure when we'll launch," he added.
The launch pad will undergo minor modifications, and Musk plans to build a hangar to hold to the rocket horizontally until it is rolled to the pad and erected.
Musk said that just as cars, computers and cellular phones get better and cheaper each year, so can rockets.
Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, 45th Space Wing commander, welcomed the entrepreneur. At a conference before the groundbreaking, she said overseeing the safety of the new rockets would require the Air Force to make an extra effort.
"We're in a partnership to make this all work," said Helms, a former astronaut. "We all see value in enabling these new capabilities. There is no intent to relax safety standards."
No comments:
Post a Comment