After three failed attempts to reach a stable orbit, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has finally managed to set its Falcon 1 booster in a perfect elliptic orbit around Earth, at a distance of about 700 km (435 miles). SpaceX CEO and CTO Elon Musk, co-founder of the PayPal Internet payment technology, said that the mission, which set out from the Reagan Test Site on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific, was a complete success, managing to deliver its 165 kg (364 lbs) dummy payload at the exact designated spot.

 

After successfully firing both its modules, the booster finally set at a 9.2 degree inclination high in the sky. The highlight of the mission was the fact that the engines on board the second module could be restarted, a very tricky business considering the complexity of the technologies involved. The second module's cargo, a six-faced mock satellite, will remain in orbit for about 10 years, SpaceX employees say.

 

Several international corporations have already expressed their desire to place communication equipment, such as satellites and space probes, inside future SpaceX boosters. A Malaysian company wanted to have its RazakSat satellite sent to orbit with last week's flight, but the management team at Space Exploration said that this was impossible because of technical details mismatch. In other words, it would have taken another few months to optimize the booster to meet the conditions required for launching a “live” satellite.

 

Following three unsuccessful launches, Falcon 1 first flight opened new gates for SpaceX. If its new Falcon 9 design becomes operational, the company will be eligible for receiving public funds, as its contract with NASA stipulates.

 

Also, it is probable that between 2010, when the shuttle program closes, and 2015, when NASA's new Aries-Orion project will become operational, SpaceX's Falcon series will constitute the only orbital capabilities that the U.S. will have. In addition, the corporation is now the first non-state actor to have ever launched a missile into space, next to the U.S, the Russian Federation and, lately, China.