The concept of civilian spaceflight continues to take root this week with the launch of Elon Musk’s new orbital payload rocket, Falcon 1. The craft is currently orbiting the Earth carrying a 165 kg test payload.
“This is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team,” said Musk, who is CEO and CTO of SpaceX.
“The data shows we achieved a super precise orbit insertion—middle of the bull’s-eye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake.”
Why does this story matter? The U.S. may well need the services of private contractors such as this in years to come, just to get a bare minimum of new satellite launches done. The Chinese are rapidly catching up to us, and with the suspension of our shuttle program, we’re already authorizing the purchase of space on Russian flights. And if relations with The Bear continue to deteriorate, along with questions about our future deals with China, we may find ourselves shut out of the space game for years, barring civilian initiatives. Exciting stuff going on these days.