This is the third in a series of Wired Q&As with spaceflight experts leading up to SpaceXs launch. You can read the first part and then the second. <\/p>\n
We may be at the dawn of a new, private era in space. <\/p>\n
In the near future, SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket will liftoff the launchpad, bringing the Dragon spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Until now, only the U.S., Russia, Japan, and the European Union have accomplished such a goal. If SpaceX succeeds, it will become the first private company to do so. <\/p>\n
This week, Wired interviews experts in the spaceflight community to discuss the ways this historic launch will impact NASA and mankinds presence in space. Is it a giant leap, or just a baby step? <\/p>\n
Today we have Linda Billings, a space policy analyst at George Washington University in Washington D.C. She does communications research regarding NASAs astrobiology program and advises the agencys Mars Exploration and Planetary Protection programs. <\/p>\n
Wired: Will this launch be a big game changer for how spaceflight is done? <\/p>\n
Billings: Its certainly different from the past. We didnt have Internet billionaires in the 1980s. But I think some of the rhetoric from the new spaceflight companies masks whats going on. <\/p>\n
They say this is all that free-spirited, free-market, American-style pioneering the future. But its not really some huge new never-been-done-before method. What irks me about the rhetoric is that these private companies trying to launch new things are receiving government subsidies. So lets call them what they are. <\/p>\n
Wired: How do you think this will this impact NASA? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The rest is here: <\/p>\n
Q&A: Space Policy Analyst on Historic SpaceX Flight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the third in a series of Wired Q&As with spaceflight experts leading up to SpaceXs launch. Continue reading