Here’s something to lighten the mood. The first privately-funded and privately-developed rocket, Falcon 1, has successfully made it into space. Falcon 1 was developed by SpaceX, a space-transportation startup company founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. Eight minutes after launch, Falcon 1 reached a speed of 5200 meters per second and passed above the International Space Station. Pretty cool.
You can watch the whole launch and flight into space on YouTube, of course.
8:09 am on September 29, 2008
