One of the bigger names in the emerging NewSpace industry, SpaceX, successfully launched a resource development satellite for Malaysia from a Pacific Ocean atoll soon after NASA scrubbed the launch of space shuttle Endeavour for the fifth time. It was the firm's first successful commercial launch.
Over the past few years, some observers have been following the development of several new companies that aimed at making big money from space operations of one kind or another. A few of those companies-- Bigelow Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, Interorbital Systems-- seem poised for success in the next decade, while smaller companies also show promise. SpaceX, however, has now hit paydirt first.
SpaceX also has much bigger plans. Its Falcon 1 multistage rocket launched the satellite, but a more powerful version, Falcon 9, is slated to deliver cargo to ISS. That cargo will ride in SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Dragon is being designed with more than cargo in mind, however. SpaceX hopes Dragon will be the first private man-rated spacecraft capable of reaching orbit, and that it will be used to ferry crews to and from ISS.
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