The proposal has raised alarms for members of Congress and NASA safety advisers as the agency and SpaceX prepare to launch humans into orbit as early as this year. That second disaster helped lead to the retirement of the shuttle in 2011, leaving NASA in the position of being unable to fly astronauts from U.S. soil. Instead, NASA pays Russia to ferry its astronauts to the International Space Station, an arrangement that costs the agency millions. Now SpaceX is getting ready to fly astronauts on an upgraded version of the same rocket. To get more power out of its rocket, SpaceX brings its propellants — liquid oxygen and refined kerosene — to unusually low temperatures.

Source: Washington Post May 05, 2018 22:19 UTC