Elon Musk leads the new Space Race with tonight’s launch of first private rocket

On the east coast of America later today, history will be made. Two NASA astronauts will leave behind the chaos and uncertainty of Planet Earth and head towards the serenity of the International Space Station (ISS).

Nothing new there you may say? Except that for the first time, these NASA astronauts will be traveling to the ISS on a rocket system operated by SpaceX, a private company founded by the billionaire Tesla entrepreneur, Elon Musk. The Falcon 9 is the first manned space flight to leave US soil in nine years, and is set to fire off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 21.33 BST tonight. With clear skies forecast for tonight, it’s possible that the Falcon 9 will be visible in the skies above Britain, particularly in the south-west of the country.

Musk’s private-public model of cooperation is likely to usher in a new era of human spaceflight – one that sees other private sector pioneers and government space agencies work hand-in-hand as humanity finally extends its appetite for galactic adventure. Musk’s own ambition is much grander. Earlier this year, he tweeted that he hopes to have transported one million people to Mars by 2050, where there will be lots of jobs available. And the reason he wants to colonise Mars? To create a safe sanctuary in case earth is either wiped out in a third world war or taken over by robots and artificial intelligence.

For decades, public interest in space exploration has waned. Following the heady excitement around the Apollo moon landings in the western world, the public imagination has since turned its attentions elsewhere. The Cold War that sparked so much innovation in space is firmly consigned to the history books and a new global challenge has taken its place: tackling climate change. Indeed, the desire to preserve Earth’s environment is the new priority for the world’s dreamers and scientists, and the sheer cost of launching humans into space have contributed to a lack of interest beyond our planet’s atmosphere.

Until now.

The emergence of the likes of Musk’s SpaceX, Blue Origin (founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos) and Virgin Orbit (part of Richard Branson’s empire) has sparked a new space race fit for the twenty-first century – and this one is being fought in the private sector. Each of these organisations has a simple goal: to make spaceflight cheaper. And in NASA and other government space agencies, they have willing customers.

From SpaceX and Blue Origin’s mission to create re-usable rockets, to Virgin Orbit’s idea of launching rockets from high altitude Boeing 747 airplanes, these companies have invested vast sums in engineering and innovation. In theory, this will help government space agencies wipe billions of dollars from their budgets and help them hammer home the case for their continued importance and relevance to their political paymasters.

This seems to have been a deliberate strategy pioneered by NASA. In early 2013, the space agency announced it would allow commercial space companies to lease a launchpad at Cape Canaveral, an offer that SpaceX duly accepted. In 2019, NASA granted Blue Origin use of a test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Alabama. And earlier this year, it spread the awarding of contracts for lunar landers between numerous companies to stimulate competition.

In doing so, NASA has created an environment that sees multiple providers aggressively competing on cost and innovation. Rather than wading into a battle with the seemingly limitless resources of multi-billionaires (who don’t need the approval of pesky politicians to sign the cheques), NASA has positioned itself as a key beneficiary of the competitive streak that no doubt drives the likes of Bezos, Branson and Musk.

There are, of course, multiple examples of collaboration between the private and public sectors that have gone wrong. But this willingness for co-operation, combined with the competitive streak of the most innovative minds of our generation, has the potential to usher in a new era of space exploration that will benefit all of humankind.

With clear skies forecast for tonight, it’s possible that the Falcon 9 will be visible in the skies above Britain at about 9.50pm, particularly in the south-west of the country.

The author is an entrepreneur and adviser.