Today, SpaceX recovered its Dragon spacecraft after a successful journey to the International Space Station — thus proving that a private company can transport supplies, or maybe even crew, to the ISS. Everybody’s saying this is the real beginning of the era of private space travel.
But how much further could private companies like SpaceX take us? In particular, could they take us all the way to Mars? With NASA’s budget constantly under fire, is there some way that a private corporation could fulfill our common dream of putting human beings on another planet? We decided to ask some experts and find out.
Top image: Painting by Ren Wicks for NASA.
It's my life, you're just along for the ride! 