One small step for commerce...one giant leap
By
BafflingBeerMan,
Posted on: 2010-12-08 13:26 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
For once I didn't need to see a news story like this on TV or the Internet... I watched it live.
I just happen to live/work about 10 miles south of where they launched this.
Good to see all of our PayPal dollars at work. 
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Tempus unum hominem manet
Great news!, does that mean they win the X-Prize?... I guess so.
The (privately funded) future starts here!
Quote:
No, original X-Prize has already been won. There's a new X-Prize for Lunar landers, but that orbital one was already won.|
Originally Posted by Mothers_Love
Great news!, does that mean they win the X-Prize?... I guess so.
The (privately funded) future starts here! |
http://www.space.com/businesstechnol...challenge.html
Edit to add:
Just read this part:
Quote:
| SpaceX reports the Falcon 9 rocket achieved an orbit with a low point of 288 kilometers, a high point of about 301 kilometers and an inclination of 34.53 degrees. |
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
Happy for all my friends and peers working at SpaceX.
"Ben is short for Frank."
-Baffling Beer-Man, The Tenacious 3: The Movie
[IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa10/BafflingBeerman/teamjackface1.jpg[/IMG]
Well they did send a Top Secret payload with it.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Elon Musk? Thank goodness he's rich.
They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!
@Starflier
Quote:
Elon Musk: Sixty percent of the time, it works every time!
|
Originally Posted by Starflier
Elon Musk? Thank goodness he's rich.
|
"Ben is short for Frank."
-Baffling Beer-Man, The Tenacious 3: The Movie
[IMG]http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa10/BafflingBeerman/teamjackface1.jpg[/IMG]
Yay! The commercialization of space has begun! This is great news!
source
Private Spaceship SpaceX Dragon Makes Successful Test Flight
{Dec. 8) -- The first private spaceship designed to orbit Earth and return to its atmosphere blasted off this morning from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean more than three hours later.
Bruce Weaver, AFP/Getty Images
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The successful mission marks a significant victory in the race toward commercial space travel and is expected to eventually lead to astronauts and supplies being delivered by private companies to the International Space Station.
The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spaceship are the property of SpaceX, a company funded in part by multimillionaire Elon Musk, who made a fortune from the online payment system PayPal.
The unmanned ship lifted off at 10:43 a.m., after its 9 a.m. launch was delayed. It circled the Earth twice before landing in the Pacific, about 500 miles off the Mexican coast, at about 2 p.m. EST.
It was the first re-entry from orbit by a spacecraft owned by a private company.
Last spring, the Obama administration scuttled the new rocket and spaceship NASA was building to replace the space shuttle, which retires next year. Instead, the administration wants to rely on space vehicles provided by private companies.