SpaceX heads for the space station

SpaceX's Dragon capsule will make its first unmanned cargo flight to the ISS in November. That's really moving with amazing speed for a space program: the capsule and its Falcon 9 booster will both be on only their third launch. SpaceX believes it can zoom past other competitors for the cargo mission, and then do it again with the first private manned missions. Given that NASA has abandoned the capability to launch U.S. astronauts until its own MPCV/Orion capsule is ready for launch around 2014, there's a lot riding on the efforts of entrepreneurial space firms. Here's wishing them luck.