The White House seems interested in the Falcon Heavy launch

Enlarge / Vice President Mike Pence, center, listens to NASA Deputy Chief Flight Director Holly Ridings, right, and NASA Flight Director Rick Henfling during a tour of the Mission Control Center in Houston in June. (credit: NASA)

As the head of the recently established National Space Council, Vice President Mike Pence is the most important person in the United States when it comes to determining space policy. In this role, Pence oversees the development of US military, civil, and commercial space efforts.

The Trump administration has come into office at a time when new space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin are challenging dominant aerospace industry companies, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. A key difference between the new competitors is that they're willing to invest more of their own funds into developing launch vehicles-both SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and Blue Origin's New Glenn rockets have been substantially funded by private money. Successful flights by these vehicles may raise questions about why the federal government should spend billions of taxpayer dollars on traditional contractors for other heavy lift vehicles.

Early next month, the first of these privately funded rockets, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, should finally make a test flight from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If successful, the Falcon Heavy, with a lifting capacity of 54 tons to low-Earth orbit, will become twice as powerful as any rocket in operation today.

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