Elon Musk has big plans for the human race. It starts with space launches and ends with individuals living on Mars. In between, is his company Space X, which has been helping NASA in transporting cargo to the International Space Station. But many are questioning how this will ever be possible, when Musk's own Space X has failed NASA.
Over a year ago, on June 2015, the Falcon 9 rocket from Space X launched from Cape Canaveral. According to Nature World News, it was carrying supplies for the ISS. A few minutes after the rocket was launched, it blew up.
There was also the failed resupply project, codenamed CRS-7. Unfortunately, the failed mission resulted in a delay for other future missions. Not only that but CRS-7 also destroyed NASA's new airlock, which was developed for commercial Space crafts.
Despite all these, NASA still has a lot of faith in Space X and its hope to make Space transit cheaper. Teslarati explains how an audit document from 2015 explains the pretense of NASA's belief in the company.
According to the document, Space X had to give up as much as 33% of its launch fee. In total, the fee cut is reportedly around $44 million. Space X also maintains these lowered fees even if there are delays in the mission. This should be cutting NASA's costs down by as much as $65 million.
Space X has also thrown in a few vital things for free, that NASA simply cannot ignore. This includes an upgrade in the electrical power found onboard the spacecraft. This not only allows for more experimentations in the ISS, but also makes it possible to bring three times more cargo onboard.
The audit document also shows that Space X has reorganized its quality control teams as well as the technicians' management since the unfortunate failure of Falcon 9. Space X also points out that there have been several successful launches since the rocket's blow up.
