On This Day In History...

[VADM JT Kerry]

Launch Of The First Commercial Spacecraft


SpaceX/NASA

Stardate [-28]6763.39, Old Earth Gregorian 2012-May-22 at 3:44am, a private, commercial spacecraft that was commissioned by NASA (Terran, USA governmental entity) to ferry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS-1, an early space laboratory) was successfully launched on a 4 day mission. The SpaceX Corporation developed the Falcon launch vehicle along with an unmanned docking module called Dragon to ferry goods and materials to the ISS, after the US had retired its fleet of Space Shuttles.

An economic down turn forced the US government to stop developing a replacement for the Shuttle system, which led the way for private enterprises to step in and take over normal operations. This ushered in a new era in space travel, which led to the development of the Lunar Base Station and Mining Colony, the Mars Station and Colony and the various mining outposts in the Asteroid Belt. Before this time space travel was considered too risky and was the purview of only governmental agencies to attain, or as concepts held only in the annals of speculative science fiction writers of the preceding era.

Within a decade, space travel by private citizens became commonplace within the solar system, and led the way to deep space travel (pre-warp).