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SpaceX Did It -- Falcon 1 Made it to Space!
By Aaron Rowe EmailSeptember 28, 2008 | 6:26:14 PM
SpaceX has made history. Their privately-developed rocket has made it into space!
After three failed launches, the company founded by Elon Musk worked all of the bugs out of their Falcon 1 launch vehicles.
The entire spectacle was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. Cameras mounted on the spacecraft showed our planet shrinking in the distance and the empty first stage engine falling back to Earth.
As the rocket ascended, cheers rang out during every crucial step of the launch sequence, and now, their headquarters in Hawthorne, California has erupted in excitement.
The most tense moment came just before stage separation. At that critical moment, the third launch attempt had failed. This time, it worked out perfectly.
Eight minutes after leaving the ground, Falcon 1 reached a speed of 5200 meters per second and passed above the International Space Station.
"We're going to get Falcon 9 to orbit next year," said Musk during a brief address to his staff after the successful launch. "The future of Space X is really great."
Musk seems almost overcome with emotion. In the coming years, his company will try to make space transportation ten times cheaper and more reliable.
After making a fortune as the co-founder of PayPal, he recruited some of the best aerospace engineers in the world and challenged them to build a launch vehicle from scratch.
"I don't know what to say... because my mind is just blown." said Musk, "This is just the first step of many."
What does this mean for the future of Space Exploration? Tell us what you think.
Image courtesy of SpaceX
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I am both excited and nervous about this. On the one hand it will open space in a way that it hasn't been open in the past. On the other, it will open space in a way that it hasn't been open in the past.
Commercial exploitation of Space is almost as worrying as the weaponization of Space.
Nonetheless... a great achievement has been made.
AND this in the same week as China's first space walk... interesting.
Could this be the beginning of a new space race? Can the US government afford to play this time? What do you think this means for the future of Space Exploration?