Private Company Blasts Rocket Into Orbit

A US space company founded by an Internet multi-millionaire has become the first private venture to successfully blast a rocket into Earth's orbit.

Falcon 1, a liquid fuel rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, took off from a remote island in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday and entered orbit carrying a dummy payload, SpaceX said.

"This is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team," said Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX who made a fortune as the founder of PayPal, an online payment system.

"With this key milestone, Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth," SpaceX added in a statement from its Hawthorne, California, headquarters.

Source

If we get enough civilians floating around up there, disclosure would happen. Come on ATS just one measley little satellite taking photos of all the UFOs in space....what do you say? You can slap a big logo on it even - then ATS would really be "Above".

Ats wont do that. But the collctive orginisation and funding of the members could

I thought Billy Bob thornton did that already??

Call me paranoid, but I get the feeling that they would need approval for this, and the only way to get it is to keep schtum. Are there any other companies that have a piece of this? or was this using all his own money?

Just a bit skeptical of anyone being able to do this freely.

EMM

Edit: star and flag for the possibilities this COULD open up.

[edit on 1-10-2008 by ElectroMagnetic Multivers]

I think the Falcon 1 was shot out in space from Omelek Island in the Pasific Ocean. And SpaceX is connected to both the U.S. military and NASA. At least we can safely assume that they both have noticed the launch:

The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site, is a missile test range in the Pacific Ocean. It covers about 750,000 square miles and includes rocket launch sites at the Kwajalein Atoll (on multiple islands), Wake Island, and Aur Atoll. It primarily functions as a test facility for U.S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, or USAKA.

The mission control center, along with most of the personnel and infrastructure, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands[1]. Eleven of the atoll's islands are operated by the U.S. military under a long term lease with the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking radars, stationary and mobile telemetry, optical recording equipment and a secure fiberoptic data network via undersea cables. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for manned space flight and NASA research projects.

Launch activities at the test site include ballistic missile tests, ABM interception tests, meteorological sounding rockets and a commercial spaceport for SpaceX at Omelek Island.

en.wikipedia.org...










[edit on 1-10-2008 by ziggystar60]

Star and Flagged.

Here is an awesome video of highlights from the launch all the way to orbit.

Here is their website SpaceX.com

reply to post by ziggystar60


And there it is, the smoking gun. They are launching from an island, isolated from anywhere, apart from military personell. The military and NASA are 'helping them out', with all this equipment, not a chance, a new reason to say 'but they can't all be lying'.

Oh yea, and a 'dummy load'? IMO, NAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Thanks for that ziggy, I always wondered where some secret launches go from, Zorgon had a list a while ago, forgot to reference it.

EMM

Osama might bring a bomba and launch it who knows where.

This is an extreme security risk to have rockets in the hands of
independents as the airlines.

The Airlines couldn't stop Osama so how is anyone else.
Or is it Cheney the Airlines couldn't stop.

Well these rockets are a risk.

We wouldn't want any 'clockwork orange'* payloads coming our way.

*obscure reference to uranium bombs used on japan
(dis info?)