SpaceX continues to win commercial space launch business, such as
this SpaceX/Boeing deal. Its competitive pricing and recent successes are bolstering its launch backlog. And in a recent BBC interview, Elon Musk suggested that one of SpaceX's biggest competitors for commercial launches,
Arianespace with its
very reliable Ariane 5 rocket, would not be able to compete in the future (which he seems to have softened in a tweet that said that he was just implying that they need to move forward with their Ariane 6 vehicle).
So 2013 looks like a busy year, not only for ISS resupply missions and commercial launches (see
the SpaceX launch manifest), but for R&D missions such as the Falcon Heavy launch as well. The Falcon 9 platform is being improved with the introduction of the Merlin 1D engine (changing the rocket's designation to Falcon 9 v1.1), and other initiatives like
Grasshopper and the Dragon
certification for human flight will also continue full steam.
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