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SpaceX rocket, capsule launched in test for commercial space industry By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 8, 2010; 1:30 PM The first of what NASA hopes will someday be a fleet of privately built rockets and capsules to supply the international space station launched from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday morning in a major test for the commercial space industry. If all goes well, the capsule will circle the globe twice and then splash down in the Pacific at about 2 p.m EST. The first attempt to launch at about 9:15 a.m. was aborted after an indicator falsely reported a problem 13 minutes from takeoff, and the launch took place 90 minutes later. The Falcon 9 rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is on its first full test flight. Its Dragon capsule is empty and unmanned but plans are to fill it in the months ahead with cargo - and ultimately an astronaut - to transport to the space station. The flight is an important moment for President Obama and his administration's hopes to expand commercial space efforts in low-Earth orbit as a way to free up NASA funds for missions to send astronauts much deeper into space and ultimately to Mars. Obama _pushed_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021003533.html) for substantially increased funding in his 2011 budget for the commercial space program, started under President George W. Bush, but met resistance in Congress. A deal was ultimately struck for a more limited increase. Obama also succeeding in winning funds to have the space station remain in orbit an additional five years, until 2020, but the United States currently has no way to get to the station and has to buy cargo and crew transport service from Russia. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk and run from California, successfully launched a Dragon 9 rocket in _June_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060403360.html) , but that test was done without an real capsule. Musk, who founded and sold the online payment company PayPal and is also behind development of the Tesla electric car, said he rated the chances for a completely successful mission at about 60 percent. But soon after the spacecraft reached orbit, supporters reacted with delight. "Falcon 9 nailed it!" exclaimed Bill Nye, the executive director of the Planetary Society, a large and active space advocacy group founded by Carl Sagan and space engineer Louis Friedman. "We congratulate Elon Musk and his team on a successful launch, another step towards commercial applications that may one day help NASA carry supplies and astronauts to low-Earth orbit. Bold endeavors like this will advance the chances for success for everyone in the Earth-orbit business." The rocket is a pipsqueak compared with the space shuttle it will partially replace - measuring 157 feet with the capsule and weighing 735,000 pounds. The much larger shuttle was needed to fly parts up to the $100 billon international space station, but the fleet is being retired because of its age and because its job is largely done. Each shuttle flight costs about $1 billion, while the entire NASA contribution so far to SpaceX has been $253 million, according to NASA officials. On Monday, as the Soyuz-size rocket went through final testing, NASA officials praised the SpaceX effort as quicker and cheaper than previous NASA development projects. While the launch is several years late and over budget, the additional costs have been picked up by investors and the delay is much shorter than in previous programs. "Both of those things are remarkable," Philip McAlister, acting director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA, said at a news briefing, "and an anomaly in terms of any historical development that I'm aware of, in terms of a traditional NASA development." Although SpaceX is the pioneer in commercial space services for NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services system, it is not alone. _Orbital Sciences Corp._ (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/post200/2007/ORB/) of Dulles also has a contract to provide cargo services to the space station, and Boeing Corp. has also said it wants to enter the effort. If the commercial cargo program makes progress, officials hope it will be followed by a commercial program to bring astronauts to the station. The commercial rocket companies also hope to expand their efforts in the years ahead to include space tourism, with stays at orbiting commercial stations. The SpaceX facility is at Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a few miles south of the shuttle launch pads. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
