SpaceX Clears Another NASA Hurdle Towards ISS

After passing NASA's last test with flying colors, it looks as if the NewSpace giant has cleared another hurdle in its attempt to become the main supplier to the International Space Station.

(Space Fellowship) SpaceX has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its first Falcon 9 / Dragon mission as part of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. [...]

During the event, all comments and questions raised by NASA's experts were satisfactorily addressed by the SpaceX design team, which resulted in official NASA approval. With this, SpaceX continues its track record of meeting all COTS milestones on schedule.

"In terms of overall design maturity of the Falcon 9 project, we are well ahead of the curve for a program of this size," said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. "Few CDRs feature multiple hardware items in fabrication, assembly, integration and test phases."

Currently SpaceX is the main player when it comes to securing the COTS (or Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) from NASA.

If SpaceX is able to clear the remaining hurdles, they could potentially open up the doorway for the private sector to colonize the Moon, which would free up NASA to send men towards Mars.



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