Congratulations to SpaceX for being the first private company to put a liquid-fueled rocket into Earth orbit. Three previous launches met with various degrees of success due to normal start-up issues, but the fourth launch was perfect. This company is on the fast track to being able to supply launch vehicles to put both payloads and astronauts into space. The Falcon 1 rocket that flew yesterday uses a single engine in its first stage and is suitable for small satellites. The Falcon 9, due for its maiden launch later this year, uses a cluster of nine engines to lift larger payloads and the Dragon module, which can be configured for space station resupply or up to seven astronauts.
I’ve been following the progress of SpaceX for several years now, and I’m looking forward to even more excitement in the coming years. Check out more details here and video highlights of the launch here.
I am bummed, though, that I didn’t get to see it on their live web feed. I knew the launch was going to happen this week, but they didn’t send an e-mail out until after it happened. They did blog about it, but I don’t check blogs often on the weekends. I couldn’t have watched it anyway, though, since we were at a Peter, Paul & Mary concert in Hartford, their first in a year and a half.
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