Learn about commercial spaceflight's most successful startup in this fully updated book, which follows the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have placed SpaceX at the forefront of the launch industry and positioned it as the most likely candidate for transporting humans to Mars.

This second edition emphasizes SpaceX's much-hyped manned mission to the Red Planet. With a plethora of new material gathered from 2013 to the present, the text offers the most up-to-date portrait of the maverick band of scientists and engineers producing some of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the 21st century.

Topics covered in this book include: all CRS flights, the challenges of developing retro-propulsion, and the pathway towards realizing the Falcon Heavy and BFR. In addition, the chapters describe SpaceX's emphasis on simplicity, low-cost, and reliability, and the methods the company employs to reduce its costs while speeding up decision-making and delivery. Detailing the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, the book shows how SpaceX is able to offer a full spectrum of light, medium, and heavy lift launch capabilities to its customers and how it is able to deliver spacecraft into any inclination and altitude, from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit to planetary missions. This book is the perfect go-to guide on SpaceX for anybody working or interested in the commercial space arena.

A go-to guide on SpaceX for anybody interested in the commercial space arena Fully updated, with new insight from the past ten years of space industry development Covers all aspects of SpaceX, from mission planning and decision-making to technology and operations

Autorentext
Erik Seedhouse works as an assistant professor (Applied Aviation Sciences and Aerospace and Occupational Safety) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, where he teaches Human Factors in Aviation (SF 320) in addition to courses in the Commercial Space Operations curriculum. He is also the Manager of the Suborbital Spaceflight Simulator, Mission Control Center. Between 2008 and 2013, he was director of Canada's manned centrifuge operations and managed the hypobaric facility at DRDC Toronto. He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, a member of the Space Medical Association, and member of the Suborbital Technical Committee. In 2009, he was one of the final 30 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency's Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. Erik is the Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Handbook of Life Support Systems for Spacecraft and a published author with more than 25 books to his name, including two textbooks for the International Space University.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Elon Musk.- Chapter 2: Space Xers.- Chapter 3: The Engines: Merlin, Draco and Raptor.- Chapter 4: The Rockets: From the Falcon 1 to the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy to the BFR.- Chapter 5: The Dragons.- Chapter 6: Flight Operations.- Chapter 7: Defense Contracts.- Chapter 8: A Man on Mars in 10 Years.- Index.