On May 30, 2020, I watched the Crew Demo-2 launch. I was filled with joy because it was my first time watching a live rocket launch. Two months later, on August 2, 2020, I watched as Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the astronauts, returned from their trip to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.

 

For me, Elon Musk has made a huge leap closer to sending civilians to space. This was his goal when he founded SpaceX in 2002.  He started by sending cargo to the ISS. He has had some failures and successes, but as the saying goes, ‘seven times down, eight times up.’

 

During my research, I realized that Elon Musk doesn’t give up even when faced with failures, and that is what has led him to where he is today.  Over the past few months, I have read avidly about the SpaceX mission to make space travel available to the public.  He also plans to create an entire city on Mars starting within a decade.  It appears that if anyone can achieve this goal, it is Elon.

 

The Dragon Capsule is quite an innovative piece of tech.  There are no buttons, unlike the traditional shuttle.  Touchscreen displays control everything.  The capsule has a futuristic look and feel.  The spacesuits are an extension of the capsule such that when the astronauts sit down, they are strapped in and become one with the shuttle.  They have to plug the spacesuit into the capsule for air, circulation, and for the spacesuit to be pressurized.

 

SpaceX has made headway in their race to make space travel public because he has stiff competition from Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.  SpaceX has been trying Vertical Take-Off Landing (VTOL) with its own rocket Falcon 9, which is around ten times more powerful than Blue Origin’s Shepard.

 

Jeff Bezos created Blue Origin in 2002. Its goal is to send customers to the ends of the earth’s atmosphere to experience weightlessness for a few minutes at a time. Blue Origin is famous for its reusable rockets. They have two rockets, New Shephard, and New Glenn.

 

Blue Origin has had nine out of ten successful takeoffs and landings. Their rockets have also proven to be safe to be in during emergency situations. Blue Origin has successfully carried out VTOL on many occasions.

 

There is no comparison between SpaceX and Blue Origin. Blue Origin seems to be a small space tourism company, which people wrongly compare to the commercial space launch company, SpaceX.  Blue Origin can’t be considered a space launch company because it was able to land a rocket vertically.

 

I believe that both SpaceX and Blue Origin have achieved a lot already.  While technophiles enjoy comparing them, it is also important that they advise on how to achieve the goal of putting ordinary human beings in space.  I look forward to that journey.

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​Arinze Okigbo is a 15 years old tech-enthusiast. He writes about tech and how it can help Africa. Check out his website at: https://okigboarinze1.wixsite.com/arinzesworldoftech.

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