Sep 28 2008
From The Space Library
After three failed attempts, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon-1 rocket for the first time. Falcon 1 was the first privately developed and funded rocket to achieve orbit. Liftoff occurred at 23:15 (UT) from the U.S. Army’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Defense Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll. SpaceX had designed the 70-foot (21.34-meter), two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket to provide cost-effective access to space. The company hoped that Falcon 1 would provide an affordable research option for universities and small aerospace companies and would serve as the first installment in a family of rockets that NASA would eventually use to resupply the ISS. SpaceX officials stated that each flight of Falcon 1 cost approximately US$8 million.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 659, 1 October 2008, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx659.html (accessed 25 July 2011); Mike Swift, “Silicon Valley Businessman Launches Rocket into Orbit,” San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA), 29 September 2008; Tariq Malik, “SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 1 Rocket into Orbit,” Space.com, 28 September 2008, http://www.space.com/5905-spacex-successfully-launches-Falcon-1-rocketorbit.html (accessed 27 July 2011).
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