Mar 20 2007
From The Space Library
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a private company based in El Segundo, California, launched its Falcon-1 rocket from Omelek Island in the Kwajawlein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The 70-foot-long (21.3-meter-long), two-stage rocket, powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, successfully reached space, accomplishing stage separation and second-stage ignition before reentering the atmosphere. Although the rocket failed to reach its desired orbit of 425 miles (684 kilometers), SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk, also the cofounder of PayPal, considered the launch a success because the rocket had successfully achieved many of the riskiest milestones of launching and entering space. The company’s first attempt at launching a Falcon-1 rocket in 2006 had failed when leaking fuel caught fire just after liftoff. SpaceX had designed the most recent mission—Demo 2—to gather flight data for the company’s main customer, DARPA, which was seeking more economical means of reaching space. The typical commercial launch service cost US$30 million, but Musk had pledged to launch satellites for US$7 million.
John Antczak for Associated Press, “SpaceX Launches New Rocket Into Space,” 21 March 2007; John Schwartz, “Private Rocket Lost Shortly After Launch,” New York Times, 21 March 2007.
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