Half a century after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite, sparking a race with the US that helped put astronauts on the moon, spaceflight is on the brink of another revolution. On 19 May, the cargo-carrying Dragon capsule, designed and built by private company SpaceX, is due to launch for low-Earth orbit, where it will dock with the International Space Station - a first for a commercial craft.
In the short term, success for SpaceX would give NASA, which retired its shuttle last year and is picking up the cheque for the mission, a way to ferry supplies to the ISS. But the feat contains the germ of a much bigger idea: a new era in our relationship with space, driven by the goals of nimble companies not sluggish, state-funded agencies.
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