South African-born Elon Musk is due to make history this month when his Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft dock with the International Space Station.
It will be the first trip by a private, non-government agency to take supplies and equipment to the space station.
Musk, a former Pretoria Boys' High pupil, co-founded the online payment system PayPal. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the year, and his life story inspired actor Robert Downey jnr's portrayal of fictional billionaire inventor Tony Stark in the blockbuster Iron Man movies.
SpaceX last year became the first commercial company to return a spacecraft from orbit, a feat previously achieved only by governments.
The Dragon spacecraft will be powered by the first new engine designed in North America in years. "SuperDraco engines represent the best of cutting-edge technology," Musk was recently quoted as saying.
"These engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make Dragon the safest spacecraft in history and enable it to land propulsively on Earth or another planet with pinpoint accuracy," he said.
Some years ago, Musk was quoted as saying: "We got to the Moon ... but have never done anything better since ... SpaceX may be the company that builds the rocket that takes the first person to Mars."
Iron Man director Jon Favreau has revealed that Downey insisted that they sit down with Musk during planning for the movie .
"He was right," Favreau wrote in the Time article.
"Elon is a paragon of enthusiasm, good humour and curiosity - a renaissance man in an era that needs them."
The story of SpaceX reads like a movie script itself.
"It's almost like the lead-up to Apollo, in my mind," Nasa's project executive for SpaceX, Mike Horkachuck, said in reference to the Apollo moon missions. "We are in the beginnings of commercialising space."
The launch comes in the wake of the retirement of Nasa's iconic space shuttle fleet, the last of which, Discovery, was flown to a Washington DC museum on the back of a Boeing 747 last month.
Nasa administrator Charles Bolden told the Sunday Times last year during a visit to Cape Town that the agency's focus had shifted towards the next generation of space exploration.
This included sending a manned mission to Mars.
Privately owned commercial companies are expected to conduct the space launches.
The launch this week of Virgin Galactic's sales office in SA means anyone can go into space - for $200000 (R1.5-million). One of 140 "accredited space agents" around the world, Virgin's Vanessa Rothery said "there is huge excitement" about the flight.
Two South Africans have already signed up - one of them businessman Leo Chetty - while $60-million in deposits have been paid by some 500 would-be astronauts.
The custom-built SpaceShipTwo will take several passengers 110km above the earth in a two-hour flight that will include four minutes of weightlessness.
The trip will start from Virgin Galactic's custom-built spaceport in New Mexico, the first such commercial facility. It involves three days of training for the passengers.
Mark Shuttleworth paid $20-million to become the world's second space tourist on a Soyuz trip to the International Space Station in 2002.
- Times Live
SAWDOS - Just a pity that Elon was lost for South Africa for what ever reason. Just image if Elon was based in South Africa and we could launch the Falcon rocket from South African soil. It would be interesting to know how many other South Africans were lost for this country and now find themselves in other countries were they can live out their dream?
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