Sept. 29, 2008 -- An Internet entrepreneur's latest effort to make space launch more affordable paid off Sunday when his commercial rocket, carrying a dummy payload, was lofted into orbit from the South Pacific. It was the fourth attempt by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to launch its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit. "Fourth time's a charm," said Elon Musk, the multimillionaire who started up SpaceX after making his fortune as the co-founder of PayPal Inc., the electronic payment system. The rocket carried a 364-pound dummy payload designed and built by SpaceX for the launch. "This really means a lot," Musk told a crowd of whooping employees. "There's only a handful of countries on Earth that have done this. It's usually a country thing, not a company thing. We did it." Related Content: Discovery Space Web Entrepreneur Wants NASA to Use His Rockets Next World Musk pledged to continue getting rockets into orbit, saying the company has resolved design issues that plagued previous attempts. |
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