Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9/COTS 2

With a mixture of tears and joy, today has set a milestone where a private company coordinated with NASA to complete the resupply mission. The retirement of Atlantis made me wonder who is going to be responsible for resupplying. And now we have the answer - private companies. SpaceX successfully launched Falcon 9, carrying its Dragon C2+ capsule into space, and successfully reached the International Space Station to fulfill its resupply mission.

Not only is the Dragon the first commercial resupply spacecraft but also the first time to carry frozen samples, which will truly benefit scientific research. Contrary to popular belief where space exploration used to be a global competition, the era of the space race in private companies has begun. Now that SpaceX has accomplished its first success with the agencies, I am thrilled to see how other space manufacturing companies compete with SpaceX. It’s going to be heated but rewarding in the U.S space industry, making us a strong candidate to fight against our possible enemy, China, in the new Space Race.