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is a price reduction of about 50 to 66 percent. $30 million
was the price for a launch with the Pegasus rocket, and
$50 million for a launch with the Taurus rocket, but those
rockets carried a smaller payload compared with the Falcon
- It was estimated that the price of the Chinese rocket, the
Shenzhou, is $50 million per launch.
Only four entities had flown a spacecraft to the Inter-
national Space Station: US, Russia, Japan, and the European
Space Agency. SpaceX became the fifth when the Dragon
docked with the space station in May 2012. “At this point,
employees all over the company went bananas,” a SpaceXer
said.
When not launching cargo, SpaceX would like to sell
trips around the Moon and to the International Space
Station.^59 But SpaceX is not primarily a tourist vessel like
the Virgin Galactic founded by Richard Branson. Virgin
Galactic uses a design based on the same concept that won
the Ansari X Prize: a carrier aircraft launches a smaller
spacecraft from its belly. “I’ve nothing against tourism;
Richard Branson is brilliant at creating a brand, but he’s
not a technologist,” Elon said. “What he’s doing is fun-
damentally about entertainment, and I think it’s cool, but
it’s not likely to affect humanity’s future in a significant
way. That’s what we’re trying to do. We want to put life
on Mars.” Elon, however, bought a ticket on the Virgin
Galactic.58,316
Before astronauts are allowed to fly with the Dragon,
NASA will subject the craft to an intensive review called
NPR 8705.2B, short for Human-Rating Requirements for