Private Space Lab's Missions Planned

摘要

Commercial space flight is taking off. SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, which in September launched the first privately built rocket to go into orbit, has secured two customers for its DragonLab mini space station.rnThe uncrewed capsule, built to house customers' experiments, can stay in orbit for up to two years before parachuting back to Earth. The first missions will launch in 2010 and 2011. With the space shuttle set for retirement in 2012, SpaceX says that scientists in fields as varied as materials research, biotech, radiation effects and robotic spacecraft servicing are considering DragonLab missions.rnIn a further boost for private space flight, George T. Whitesides, a senior adviser to Virgin Galactic, has been appointed a member of President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team at NASA.