March 20, 2007 —A bargain-priced rocket developed by a young businessman is poised for a second chance to show if it has the right stuff to fly cargo — and eventually people — to space.
The first flight of Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 1 booster last year ended seconds after launch from a remote island in the South Pacific.
A fuel leak and mid-air fire sent the rocket tumbling into the ocean. Investigators later traced the problem to a corroded aluminum nut.
Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who made millions selling his electronic payment system PayPal to Ebay, has sunk about $100 million into his startup rocket business.
He aims to significantly undercut the prices charged for transportation to space. The company's Falcon 1 rocket, for example, sells for $7 million — about one-third the going rate.
California-based SpaceX also is developing a heavy-lift Falcon 9 launcher, as well as a capsule that can hold either cargo or passengers for flights to the International Space Station or other outposts in low-Earth orbit.
More than half the $400-million worth of launch contracts SpaceX holds come from NASA, which is looking for commercial suppliers to ferry cargo to and from the space station after the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.
