CNN news 2012-05-26 加文本

cnn news 2012-05-26

CARL AZUZ, HOST: We appreciate the students at Ridgeview Junior High for getting us started today.

Hi, I`m Carl Azuz.

It`s May 23rd and we are ready to launch into today`s headlines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, zero and launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, as NASA turns to the private sector to resupply the International Space Station.

AZUZ: What you`re watching is the beginning of a new era in space exploration. It`s the first time a commercial rocket, one owned by a private company, has taken off for the International Space Station.

SpaceX`s Falcon 9 Rocket is carrying 1,300 pounds of food, clothes and supplies. The company has a contract with NASA worth nearly $400 million. And it`s trying to show that private companies can get to the ISS safely and efficiently.

John Zarrella explains this shift in space exploration.

JOHN ZARRELLA, cnn CORRESPONDENT: No one is going to any planets right now, because there are no vehicles that can take anybody to the planet. So all of these companies are trying to develop their own rockets, their own spacecraft, in order to take U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station.

What NASA decided to do was to get out of the low Earth orbit business.

How do you do that?

You start turning over to commercial companies the flights to the International Space Station, taking crew, taking cargo and eliminating the Space Shuttle program. It was the only way that NASA was going to be able to move out and do the things that NASA does best, which is to do deep space exploration.

So now you have several commercial companies competing for contracts for taking cargo to the International Space Station, competing for contracts to ultimately take astronauts to the International Space Station.

The only place to go right now, until there are space hotels, until there are private space stations, is the International Space Station. So, you know, these companies really need NASA`s money and NASA`s seed money in order to develop their spacecraft.

And at this point, the only real customer out there to go to the International Space Station, you know, is NASA.

SpaceX is saying that it can charge NASA $20 million a seat to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Right now, because NASA has no way to get there but using the Russians and their Soyuz rocket, NASA is paying $50 million to $60 million a seat to the Russians.

So a big difference in how much it`s going to cost if someone like SpaceX or Orbital, U.S. commercial companies, start flying astronauts. It will bring the cost way down.