Making a Difference – Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

When the unmanned Dragon capsule built and launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) docked with the international space station in May, it delivered much more than a half-ton of food, clothes, batteries and other supplies to the trio of astronauts waiting there. The autonomous craft, launched three days earlier on what was only the third flight to date of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, also delivered a ton of credibility to NASA’s controversial plan to entrust the world’s $100 billion space station investment to commercial cargo and crew delivery services.