Elon Musk introduces the Dragon V2 spacecraft on May 29, 2014 in Hawthorne, California
In May 2020, millions of Americans witnessed the launch of two NASA astronauts: Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley , aboard the Dragon spacecraft, flew to the International Space Station at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour. It was the first time that NASA astronauts were launched from the United States since 2011, and it was also the first time in history that a vehicle produced by a private company sent humans into earth orbit.
When the astronauts returned safely, NASA and Spacex employees cheered together to celebrate their shared achievement.
This moment was hard-won, and came after years of infighting, politicking and mutual mistrust, according to employees at NASA and SpaceX.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the stated goal of sending humans to Mars. He said in an interview with the media in 2004: "I think we are beginning to see the dawn of a new era of space exploration, one that is driven by commercial companies, not governments."
Elon Musk stands next to a rocket in El Segundo, Los Angeles, California on March 19, 2004.
When the startup first partnered with NASA, it had just a few dozen engineers and was known for Musk's rants and the explosion of its first rocket. NASA, still reeling from past tragedies that resulted in the deaths of astronauts, believes Spacex is reckless and reckless.
Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman said: "...the common perception is 'They are cowboys; they are dangerous; they kill people!'". Garrett Reisman has participated in two space shuttle missions. In 2011, he joined Space Exploration Technologies Corporation as a senior engineer and worked on the development of Dragon spacecraft astronauts.
Even after SpaceX began to prove itself and land billions of dollars in NASA contracts, cultural divides continued to simmer tensions behind the scenes.
NASA has repeatedly stated that they have more confidence in their traditional partner Boeing.. Boeing is also developing Starliner, a spacecraft to rival SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
Until 2016, NASA's schedule still revolved around the idea that Starship would beat Dragon to the launch pad first.
For this reason, in September 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine had a big quarrel with Elon Musk because Musk believed that SpaceX did not receive enough attention.
results In 2020, the competition between Boeing and SpaceX has taken a clear turn. In December 2019, Boeing's Starliner test flight was full of errors, leaving NASA and Boeing scrambling to find problems. On the other hand, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft passed its final test not long after and became the king of the industry.
NASA officials’ focus began to shift towards SpaceX and its unorthodox methods at this time. One trades off the other, and it is not as interesting as Boeing's Starliner.
Raisman responded: "I see NASA standing up and saying, 'We should trust SpaceX more.' If you had played that video eight years ago, I would have been shocked. It was pure science fiction. ".
Garrett Reisman, SpaceX’s director of Crew Dragon operations, attends a meeting in San Francisco, California, in April 2015.
To be continued......
