Ever since NASA cancelled their Space Shuttle Program two years ago, the Americans have been searching for an alternative option for space travel to save them from teaming up with their cosmic nemesis, Russia. On 16 March, the first viable option presented itself and blew the competition away.

In June of 2010, SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket which successfully carried their Dragon spaceship into orbit. The Dragon is the first private spaceship, ever. Since then, SpaceX have constantly been working on and improving the Dragon, getting it ready for its first manned flight, which looks to be on the horizon following their latest media release.

The Dragon recently had its first human testing by SpaceX personnel, NASA experts and four NASA astronauts. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

As far as private spaceships go, it’s relatively big and will be able to comfortably fit seven passengers, and not just any passengers; adults of up to six feet and five inches tall and weighing well over a 100kg. The recently tested engineering prototype had all seven seats in place and had representations of pretty much everything the final product would comprise of.

Later this year, SpaceX will launch a Dragon spaceship to dock with the International Space Station. Although the flight will be automated and won’t carry any flight crew, if successful it will mark massive progress in the private space race and bring us one step closer to putting more astronauts into space.

[Source: SpaceX]