NASA, SpaceX launch astronauts from US soil for the first time in a decade

This launch also served as a sort of litmus test for NASA’s push to partner more extensively with the private sector.

SpaceX developed Crew Dragon under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which, for the first time in the space agency’s history, handed over much of the design, development and testing of new human-rated spacecraft to the private sector. NASA awarded SpaceX and Boeing a fixed-price contracts to get the job done, and after Boeing suffered a major setback during an uncrewed test flight last year,

That decision wasn’t without controversy, particularly in the Commercial Crew Program’s early days. But Saturday’s success could be seen as a huge win for folks at NASA who hope to rely more extensively on similar contracts to help accomplish the space agency’s goals.

Bridenstine, for example, hopes to rely heavily on private-sector partnerships to accomplish the space agency’s ambitious goal of landing US astronauts on the moon in 2024.

“Ultimately, what we’re trying to achieve is having numerous providers that are competing against each other on costs, innovation and safety. And then NASA can be a customer, one customer of many customers, and we already know that this will save a ton of money over the long term,” Bridenstine told CNN Business’ Rachel Crane earlier this week.