A Visit To SpaceX – Taking The Next Step To Mars [Video]
When you walk into the massive hangar that is the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne California there are a couple of things you will notice. After proceeding down the hallway through security you walk underneath a landing leg of one of the giant Falcon Rockets. It's not a prop. It's the real thing. Space X is not into props. You get the feeling that they don't want anyone even contemplating the word "fake" in anything they do.
After you cross under the giant landing leg if you look up, trust me you'll look up, you'll see the very first payload capsule that a SpaceX rocket carried into space. On its sides, you can see the burn marks from its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
My son is a flight reliability intern with SpaceX and I was allowed to tour the facility in the suburb of Los Angeles on one condition. No pictures. They do a lot of secret stuff and there is a lot of proprietary technology going on. I understand the need for security. The video you see at the top of this story was cleared for use.
Besides the amazing size of just about everything, there is one more prevailing feature of SpaceX that you seldom see at any workplace anymore. That is the spirit of "We Can Do This". It's palpable, you can feel it.
A lot of the team at SpaceX were wearing Occupy Mars t-shirts as they worked well past quitting time. Not because they had to but because of the strong belief that space truly is our final frontier and they want to build the vessels that will take us there.
Today at approximately 11:30 this morning the next step in reaching Mars is scheduled to be launched on board a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket. The payload is a supercomputer. A "space" supercomputer that could literally be the next step in the dreams of those who wish to Occupy Mars and explore the universe.