Carried Away

SpaceX Will Work On Manned Flight Post-Falcon V

Yesterday, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, was a panel guest on NPR Talk of the Nation's Science Friday (he's fast becoming an NPR regular, apparently).   He mentioned that after developing the Falcon V, which is to fly next year, SpaceX will be "working on making the upper stage reusable, which would enable human transportation."

I don't know for certain the connection between making the upper stage reusable and human transportation, but it probably has to do with cost.  Maybe there are also reliability advantages in making their upper stage reusable.  In any event, we now know that SpaceX will be working to make the Falcon V a manned system in the near to medium-term.  Of course, oftentimes business plans change, as happened last year with a reconfiguration of the Falcon V from a 3 booster concept to a one booster, 5 engine concept.  But SpaceX's manned space program plans seem much closer now than what seemed likely previously.

$3 million Ticket to LEO Within 10 Years

That's Elon Musk's back-of-the-envelope price quote and time estimate on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday.  The quote is probably derived from the cost to put a 2-man or 3-man capsule on the SpaceX Falcon V plus some time in Bigelow's space hotel.

This price compares currently to about $150 million for a ticket on the Space Shuttle (cost) and $20 million for a ride on Russia's Soyuz capsule (price).