THE COMMERCIAL era of space travel began this morning as the world witnessed the first private space craft launch into space.
It was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based SpaceX company. The first was last spring.
This time was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 453.6 kilograms of key science experiments and other precious gear on this truly operational mission.
There was also a personal touch: chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream tucked in a freezer for the three station residents.
The company's unmanned Falcon rocket roared into the night sky right on time, putting SpaceX on track to reach the space station Wednesday. The complex was soaring southwest of Tasmania when the Falcon took flight.
Officials declared the launch a success, despite a problem with one of the nine first-stage engines. The rocket put Dragon in its intended orbit, said the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
"It's driving its way to station, so that's just awesome,'' noted SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.
In more good news, a piece of space junk was no longer threatening the station, and NASA could focus entirely on the delivery mission.
Replies
That is so cool! Science has gone so far in one hundred years!
This is cool. It will make it a lot more conveinient to go to space and come back home.
this is awesome since Obama had shut down the space thing good for them!!!
I think that this is good. Espcially considering Obama shutting down the Space Program. Good to see there moving forword.
That is awesome that we began the commercial era today maybe in a few years civilians can travel to space for vacation.
Its really cool that a company has started to take space travel after the end of the space shuttle and then have started to have their own company to fly stuff in
That's fantastic. I am glad to see that NASA is actually doing something after Obama shut down the space program to make room for this. I would prefer to see us thinking more about Mars Exploration than showing more to tourists.