Monday, September 29, 2008
IST INDEPENDENT SATELLITE ORBITS THE EARTH
The Falcon 1 booster redeemed itself Sunday with an electrifying launch that put an exclamation point on six years of hard work and disappointment for SpaceX, a startup company chartered to revolutionize space travel.
The 70-foot-tall rocket successfully delivered a 364-pound hunk of aluminum nicknamed "Ratsat" to orbit on the launcher's fourth flight, ending a streak of three consecutive Falcon 1 failures dating back to 2006.
"That was freakin' awesome," said Elon Musk, founder, CEO and chief technology officer of Space Technologies Corp.
Indeed it was.
The Chinese & Russian governments may be far ahead of our own dear idiots but commercial launchers are also working.
Coverage of this has naturally been lamentable. As I write this it is limited to space community publications. On the other hand when the Wright Brothers took off it took about a week for it to get reported - by their local paper.
