As the commercial space sector continues to develop apace, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is about to unveil what it hopes will become the enzyme for a revolution in U.S. manned space transportation. Tonight at 7PM PDT, the manned version of the company’s hugely successful Dragon space capsule will be shown off at a special invite-only event at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. The Dragon V2 is designed to carry seven astronauts into orbit after being launched atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket system, which is proving to be a stalwart for U.S. access to to space.
Grasshopper was a reusable vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket prototype tested by the company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in preparation for more ambitious launches. After progressively higher hops and pinpoint landings in two years, SpaceX wrapped up the program in 2013 to move resources into the Falcon 9R rocket that is now being put through its own set of flight tests. Grasshopper was the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which the company still uses today for the Dragon spacecraft flights to the station. Test flights ran between 2012 and 2013 and were successful, according to SpaceX. First announced in September 2011, Grasshopper is one piece of SpaceX’s desire to make a fully reusable system that will fly cargo and people to and from space. Traditionally, rockets have been considered “throwaway” items, with few exceptions (such as the space shuttle’s external solid rocket boosters.)
