“We obviously have to go through a number of steps to berth with the Space Station, but everything is looking really good and I think I would count today as a success no matter what happens with the rest of the mission,” CEO Elon Musk said in a SpaceX press release.
Musk went on to state,
This mission heralds the dawn of a new era of space exploration, one in which there is a significant commercial space element. It is like the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s when commercial companies entered what was originally a government endeavor. That move dramatically accelerated the pace of advancement and made the Internet accessible to the mass market. I think we’re at a similar inflection point for space. I hope and I believe that this mission will be historic in marking that turning point towards a rapid advancement in space transportation technology.
NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden had his own sentiments as well:
I want to congratulate SpaceX for its successful launch, and salute the NASA team that worked alongside them to make it happen.
Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration; a private company has launched a spacecraft to the International Space Station that will attempt to dock there for the first time. And while there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are certainly off to good start.
Under President Obama’s leadership, the nation is embarking upon an ambitious exploration program that will take us farther into space than we have ever traveled before, while helping create good-paying jobs right here in the United States of America.
We’re handing off to the private sector our transportation to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on what we do best -- exploring even deeper into our solar system, with missions to an asteroid and Mars on the horizon.
We’re committed to ending the outsourcing of work on America’s space program and bringing these jobs back to the United States.
And we’re working to promote competition and have multiple private sector partners so we don’t find ourselves in the situation we are today -- having only one way to get to the space station.
The decision to end the shuttle program back in 2004 was a difficult one. But with the kind of hard work, determination and ingenuity for which NASA and this nation are known, we’re now on the brink of a new future.
A future that stands on the shoulders of Mercury and Gemini; Apollo and Shuttle. A future that embraces the innovation the private sector brings to the table, and a future that opens up the skies to endless possibilities.
Again, congratulations to the SpaceX and NASA teams, and Godspeed Dragon.
Does this make Musk the Google or Facebook of the space program? We shall see, but SpaceX has done what no other private company has done before. As with Facebook, the future is unknown and subject to some rough seas ahead, but like NASA I would put my money on Musk and those who follow.
Update: On May 25th at 12:02 pm EST the Dragon successfully docked with the International Space Station. And at 5:53 am EST today the Dragon hatch was open and the mission was determined to be a success (here is the NASA video of the hatch opening). That's one big step for SpaceX and an even bigger step for a nation with its hopes set on commercial partners.
