Private companies have been aiding NASA's manned spaceflight initiatives since the very beginnings of the agency. In that regard, the only difference between the Apollo era and the era of SpaceX, Sierra Space, and Blue Origin is this time, the companies involved can stick their names on their own hardware.
In the Visitor Complex inside the Kennedy Space Center, a resoundingly government-owned piece of property is an exhibit that spans an entire building called Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex. A whole building dedicated to the achievements of private industry in spaceflight.
The same companies, mind you, that the misguided general public assumes are competing against NASA in some 2.0 version of the old Space Race from the Cold War. But as people in the know will tell you, that's just a load of media propaganda. The truth is that NASA personnel and industry professionals understand that when the private aerospace sector succeeds, NASA does as well.
Why? Well, just take a look at SpaceX. The very same launch pad at KSC that sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon on Apollo 11 is currently being leased to the company for the sole use of launching their Falcon series of rockets and, eventually, Starship. SpaceX and their market competitors at Blue Origin maintain a not-at-all unsubstantial infrastructure presence both around the KSC Visitor Complex the public can see and inside KSC itself, where they can't.
It all comes to a head inside the Gateway exhibit, named so in honor of the planned Gateway Lunar Space Station that privately funded spacecraft will no doubt be docking with if it manages to get off the ground. You're greeted at the exhibit's entry with a wall lined from floor to ceiling with screens that preview the exhibits within.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
It butters you up as one walks down the mildly meandering hallway that leads to the main exhibit floor. As graphics of the Boeing Starliner, Lockheed Orion, SpaceX Dragon, and Sierra Space Dream Chaser pass before your eyes, you're bound to light up in anticipation. At the end of the hallway, you're greeted with the same spacecraft you'd just spent the last 30 seconds or so watching float across a screen on a wall.
Many of them aren't just mere mockups, either. Among the mix are some genuine flight and test hardware. Some of which have even gone to space. You're immediately greeted upon entry by a Falcon 9 hanging from the ceiling flanked beside it by a mockup of a Sierra Space Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane.
The same spacecraft series is slated to fulfill similar obligations to the International Space Station as its spiritual ancestor, the Space Shuttle, albeit with less cargo. A short jaunt down a walkway to the bottom floor reveals a SpaceX Falcon space capsule COTS-2, face to face with a mockup of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner.
The two spacecraft may be "competing" with one another on paper. But in practice, the two companies taking up more and more real estate on NASA property can only benefit all involved. But Starliner and Dragon, at least in their current configuration, can only operate in Low Earth Orbit. This may very well change in the future. But as it stands, only one spacecraft is on display at KSC's Gateway exhibit, whose manufacturers say it could one day go to Mars.
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
That would be the Lockheed Martin Orion, and you bet the one on display at KSC is not any wind tunnel dummy. It flew aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket on December 5, 2014, as a part of Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1). The spacecraft orbited the Earth for around four hours, helping to gather information vital to NASA's next manned space program, Project Artemis.
With a slew of smaller exhibits, including a real cube satellite, the likes of which will fly with Artemis, Gateway isn't just a grand display of interesting flight hardware. It's a more holistic and in-depth approach to learning. Finishing out the Gateway experience with a ride on one of the building's four different spaceflight simulators, complete with unique spacecraft and target destinations, is a surefire way to end on a high note.
You might even find it one of the highlights of your day. So what was that about a Cold War Space Race 2.0? Hopefully, things are more clear now. Check back soon for more from our trip to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center for the launch of Artemis I here on autoevolution.
Editor's note:
Article contains self taken photos. This article was not supported or endored by NASA, the Kennedy Space Center, the Gateway exhibit, or any third party.
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