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The main factor supporting their claim is that they have a very strong incentive to be ferrying crew to/from the ISS around this time, so barring any big mishap
by cletusw 10y ago
The main factor supporting their claim is that they have a very strong incentive to be ferrying crew to/from the ISS around this time, so barring any big mishaps with Falcon Heavy (supposed to be ready this summer/fall), all the pieces should be in place if not by next year, then certainly just a year or two later. Which, as you mentioned, is just as impressive!
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoThis is what I'm referring to: "...The draft report from the GAO, which is Congress’ investigative arm, also concluded that neither SpaceX nor the Boeing Co. is likely to conduct regular space taxi flights to the space station by 2018..." http://www.geekwire.com/2017/gao-journal-spacex-rocket-turbopump-cracking/ http://www.geekwire.com/2017/gao-journal-spacex-rocket-turbo...
- cletusw 10y agoCould be true, but SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell challenged that report directly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjXYSJF-7Cs&t=16m31s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjXYSJF-7Cs&t=16m31s
- thelambentonion 10y agoShotwell's response is in the best interests of her company, but SpaceX is (as well as Boeing) woefully behind on a reasonable timeline to reach human-rated flight for both their rocket and crew module. We should have learned from both the early Apollo program, and the Shuttle failures, that human lives shouldn't be treated as expendable capital in this industry. Both SpaceX's current announcement, and the US Gov's desire to put humans on the first flight SLS flight, are deeply troubling in that regard.