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MSNBC.Com: 00:23 May 19, 2012

On Saturday, a company called SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first private mission to the International Space Station,
demonstrating a freight-carrying capability NASA gave up when it retired its fleet of space shuttles in July.

Some NASA supporters are mourning what they see as the decline of U.S. leadership in space. But they should really be
celebrating the dawn of a new era.

After all, we've been stuck in low Earth orbit for several decades now, at considerable cost. Visionary plans for genuine space
exploration have gathered dust at NASA, the National Research Council and other space-savvy places. They advocate relearning
how to land on the moon or figuring out how to travel to Mars, an asteroid or the special orbital location where the James
Webb Space Telescope will eventually operate. But after more than two decades of talking that talk, the U.S. has yet to start
walking that walk.



Turning over routine space trucking to private industry has important benefits. It frees NASA to innovate and to develop a new
heavy-lift capability commensurate with real space exploration. At the same time, it empowers private industry to play a significant
role in the nation's space future.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, its Dragon capsule filled with food, supplies and science experiments, is scheduled for 4:55 a.m. ET
from the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Three days later, astronauts will use a robotic arm to
attach the Dragon capsule to the station. Cargo will be unloaded, return cargo loaded in, and the capsule will return to splash down
in the Pacific.

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