Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a California-based company, already has already tested and completed the Falcon 9 rocket. In fact, a new Falcon 9 rocket is already assembled in Cape Canaveral for deployment soon. SpaceX holds a 1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12 flights to resupply the International Space Station.  The Falcon 9 rocket will feature the Dragon spacecraft that allows a higher payload than the Russian Soyuz.

Orbital Sciences, a Virginia-based company has been developing technologies for NASA for over a decade.  They are developing the Taurus 2 rocket with it’s own cargo spacecraft to resupply the space station. The contract they hold is more expensive for NASA, at $1.9 billion for eight flights.

SpaceX has been making huge headlines because of the lower total cost and the efficiency they have shown.  PayPal co-founder Elon Musk founded the company in 2002 with the goal of making the making space travel affordable and reliable by removing unneeded bureaucracy.

More information about the Falcon 9 rocket can be found here: http://spacex.com/falcon9.php
More information about the Taurus 2 Rocket can be found here: http://www.orbital.com/SpaceLaunch/TaurusII/

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 10:22 am and is filed under Aerospace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.