The Observer view on the future of space travel | Observer editorial
by Observer editorial from on (#3FKKF)
Entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk hold the key to exciting and important possibilities
The sight of the giant Falcon Heavy rocket roaring into space after its launch last week will have brought, if nothing else, a nostalgic tear to the eyes of many experienced space hands who had gathered to witness the blast-off.
From the same Kennedy Space Center launch pad that saw Apollo rockets soar towards the moon, a new launcher, built by Elon Musk's SpaceX company and currently the most powerful in the world, made its dramatic maiden flight. Hopes that the great pioneering days of US space flight, in the 1960s and 1970s, would soon return were suddenly rekindled. The fact that Falcon Heavy's cargo was ferrying an electric sports car, built by a different Musk company, Tesla, to Mars only added spice to an already extravagant event.
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