The Falcon Heavy could put 117,000 pounds into the same orbit as the International Space Station. The space shuttle hauls about 54,000 pounds into orbit. The old Soviet Union had a giant moon rocket bigger than the Falcon Heavy, but it failed in all four attempts. Another Soviet rocket, also bigger than Falcon Heavy and designed to launch its version of the space shuttle, had one successful flight more than 20 years ago. Musk said if Nasa does buy rides on commercial rockets, he would be able to fly astronauts to the space station in his smaller Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule within three years. He said Falcon Heavy will be far cheaper than government or private rockets. Launches are about $100 million eachA high-tech entrepreneur unveiled plans to launch the world's most powerful rocket since man went to the moon. Space Exploration Technology has already sent the first private rocket and capsule into Earth's orbit as a commercial venture. It is now planning a rocket that could lift twice as much cargo into orbit as the soon to be retired space shuttle. The first launch is slotted fir 2013 from California with follow up launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Space X's new rocket called Falcon Heavy is big enough to send cargo or even people out of Earth's orbit to the moon. an asteroid or Mars. Only the long retired Saturn V rocket that sent men to the moon was bigger. "This is a rocket of truly huge scale," said Space X president Elon Musk.
No comments:
Post a Comment