A budget rocket developed by Elon Musk, the founder of the online payment system PayPal, blasted off into space on Tuesday from a remote island in the South Pacific. The launch, whilst not perfect, bolsters hopes of cheaper vehicles to fly cargo, and eventually people, into space.
The 21-metre (68-foot) booster rocket called Falcon 1 lifted off at 2110 EDT on Tuesday (0110 GMT Wednesday) from Omelek Island, part of a US military missile test-range at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It arrived in space minutes later.
However, about five minutes into the flight, a problem cropped up with the booster鈥檚 second-stage engine, which shut down early due to an unexpected roll, said Musk, chief of Space Exploration Technologies. Watch a .
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This meant the second stage did not achieve full orbital velocity and therefore did not reach its intended orbit.
鈥淏ut we feel that is something straightforward to fix,鈥� Musk told reporters in a conference call after the flight. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a good day.鈥�
Bargain window
The primary goal of the mission was to demonstrate the Falcon鈥檚 flight capabilities, though the booster carried a pair of engineering experiments as well. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was the customer for Falcon鈥檚 flight.
Space Exploration Technologies, also called SpaceX, is offering launches using the rocket, as well as an untested heavy-lift booster, for sale at about 20% of current market rates. Falcon 1 launches, for example, currently sell for about $7 million.
SpaceX鈥檚 debut mission a year ago ended shortly after lift-off when a corroded nut cracked, triggering a disastrous fuel leak and fire (see Fire destroys rocket鈥檚 maiden flight).
The failure did little to shake confidence in the firm鈥檚 future, with SpaceX subsequently winning several new contracts, including a $278 million award from NASA to demonstrate cargo delivery services to the International Space Station.
Enter the Dragon
The rocket was about 90 seconds from lift-off on Monday when its computers automatically aborted the launch due to a software glitch. The rocket also automatically cut off the first launch attempt on Tuesday due to a low-pressure reading. Technicians were able to fix the problem and make a second attempt an hour later.
The company has launch commitments worth about $400 million for flights on the Falcon 1 and heavy-lift Falcon 9 rockets, said Gwynne Shotwell, vice president of business development.
SpaceX also is developing a cargo and crew capsule called the Dragon, which will be used for NASA-backed test flights for space station transport. NASA also awarded $207 million to SpaceX competitor Rocketplane-Kistler in Oklahoma, US, for test flights of its K-1 booster.
Despite the glitch during Tuesday鈥檚 flight, Musk said the next mission for Falcon would be to deliver a military communications satellite to orbit. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 anticipate needing any more demonstration flights,鈥� he said.
