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AFP

Friday, June 29 at 5:42. A rocket of the US company SpaceX took off from Florida carrying two and a half tons of NASA equipment and will be attached three days later to the International Space Station, 400 meters high.

This is not the first trip for this rocket: already put into orbit a NASA satellite two months ago, and landed on a ship in the Atlantic 300 meters from Cape Canaveral .

The Dragon capsule, which was on the tip of the rocket and was carrying the NASA material, was also new. It was used in 2016.

These missions may seem routine, but revolutionize space travel.

Today's flight will be the fifteenth mission of SpaceX for this space agency since 2012. One of them failed, exploding in the midst of the flight. Another company, Orbital ATK, carried out nine refueling flights and underwent an explosion

Before SpaceX, only governments brought equipment to the space station.

Today, NASA relies heavily on the private sector that has signed contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to send astronauts into space from next year, as soon as their capsules are released. ready.

NASA has not been able to send people into space since the launch of the space program in 2011. Aerospace agencies around the world are buying seats aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz, which are being launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

"The combination of government and the private sector is unmatched," says John Logsdon, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University

The American Resurgence

SpaceX, Founded by the executive director of Tes Elon Musk, a space fanatic, has shaken the satellite launches sector, since he has already done 55 with his Falcon 9 rocket since 2010.

Thanks to SpaceX , the United States regained first place in space launches, then lost ground for a decade in Russia and China

"The Russians have suffered the biggest losses in the space launch market," says Tom Stroup, president of the Satellite Industry Association (SIA). 19659004] And these releases will increase over time: never has the closest orbit to the Earth been so accessible.

Miniature satellites weighing a few kilograms can be made quickly and launched in tens of thousands of dollars.

These represent 292 of the 345 satellites launched in 2017, according to the Satellite Industry Association.

"They are almost disposable," says Claude Rousseau of Northern Sky Research, formerly plicando that their operational life is about seven years old and can be easily replaced.

In the coming months, SpaceX and the company OneWeb want to put in orbital constellations of hundreds of small satellites that will help to offer an Internet service.

In this highly competitive world, companies are working to build smaller and smaller rockets.

India and China, whose space programs are supported by public funds, also join the party. This last country has made more space launches this year than all those made in 2017.

Space Tourism

The era of space tourism is also approaching.

Virgin Galactic performs tests to commercially operate its SpaceShipTwo VSS unit, which departs from an aircraft in flight. And Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, will sell tickets next year for his New Shepard plane, designed to take six people into space.

Spacecraft will not just be in orbit around the Earth, but will also allow pbadengers to travel in space and run out of gravity for a few minutes before returning to Earth.

Finally, NASA is working on a space station will orbit the moon, a step forward in missions to Mars that should take place in the coming decades.