The first-ever commercial spacecraft bound for the International Space Station blasted into orbit early Tuesday, marking a historic step in opening space to private enterprise.
The test flight of SpaceX's Dragon capsule came three days after a last-second scrub of a launch attempt.
"Every bit of adrenalin in my body released at that point," said SpaceX founder Elon Musk. "It's obviously an extremely intense moment."
And the rocket worked perfectly.
"Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden after the SpaceX launch.
NASA has worked closely with SpaceX to prepare for the flight, which will be co-managed by the company and flight directors at Johnson Space Center responsible for the space station.
SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly at least 12 unmanned resupply missions to the station, and Tuesday's launch was part of a plan to test the rocket and spacecraft for safety and reliability.
The Dragon spacecraft nonetheless carried more than 1,000 pounds of nonessential food and scientific experiments.
If all goes well the solar-powered spacecraft will attempt to dock with the station on Friday.
Two-week turnaround
About two weeks later, the Dragon will undock from the station and, four hours later, begin a 30-minute fall to Earth before splashing into the Pacific off the West Coast of the United States.
Based in Hawthorne, Calif., SpaceX has a large rocket test facility in the North Central Texas city of MacGregor and is considering building a spaceport near Brownsville.
NASA is counting on the private company to help keep the six-person crew aboard the space station well supplied, especially after the retirement of its space shuttle fleet last summer.
"This is also absolutely critical to the space station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, who oversees human spaceflight for NASA. "This cargo resupply is absolutely needed for station to meet its research potential and to move forward."
$400 million invested
NASA, without a system of its own to transport supplies and astronauts into orbit, is now reliant on its international partners from Russia, Europe and Japan.
The agency is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Congress to help spur private American companies, such as SpaceX, to build rockets and spacecraft that can both fly food and eventually crew into orbit.
That's why Tuesday's launch, coming after NASA has invested about $400 million into SpaceX, marks an important inflection point in the commercialization of space. A successful mission will validate those who support increased NASA funding for private U.S. spaceflight ventures.
Even those who have questioned whether NASA should become so reliant on commercial companies, such as U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, complimented the company on its launch.
"This launch has been a long time coming, and I am happy to see this very challenging mission begin," the senator said.
"There are many crucial milestones to be reached and capabilities to be demonstrated during this flight, all of which we hope leads to a demonstrated ability to provide cargo service to the International Space Station," Hutchison said.
The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket is seen …
Updates with today's news. Graphic …
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
(AP) — Opening a new, entrepreneurial era in spaceflight, a ship built
by a billionaire businessman sped toward the International Space Station
with a load of groceries and other supplies Tuesday after a spectacular
middle-of-the-night blastoff.
The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon capsule marked the first time a commercial spacecraft has been sent to the orbiting outpost.
Tracing
a fiery arc across the night sky, the rocket lifted off just before 4
a.m. and smoothly boosted the capsule into orbit. The capsule is
expected to rendezvous with the space station within days, delivering a half-ton of provisions for its six crew members.
It
is considered just a test flight — in fact, the capsule was packed with
only nonessential items, in case something went disastrously wrong —
but if all goes well with this mission and others like it, commercial
spaceships could be carrying astronauts to and from the space station in
three to five years.
"Falcon flew perfectly!!" billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, founder of the SpaceX company, said via Twitter. "Feels like a giant weight just came off my back."
Musk later told reporters: "For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."
Up to now, flights to the space station were something only major governments had done.
The White House offered congratulations.
"Every
launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially
exciting," said John Holdren, President Barack Obama's chief science
adviser. "This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of
NASA's
resources to do what NASA does best — tackle the most demanding
technological challenges in space, including those of human spaceflight
beyond low-Earth orbit."
NASA is looking to the private sector to take over flights to the space station now that the space shuttle has been retired. Several U.S. companies are vying for the opportunity.
"The
significance of this day cannot be overstated," said a beaming NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden. "It's a great day for America. It's
actually a great day for the world because there are people who thought
that we had gone away, and today says, 'No, we're not going away at
all.'"
Flight controllers
applauded when the Dragon reached orbit nine minutes into the flight.
Then they embraced once the solar panels on the craft popped open. Many
of the SpaceX controllers wore untucked T-shirts, jeans or shorts, a
stark contrast to NASA's suit-and-tie shuttle crowd.
A
previous launch attempt, on Saturday, was aborted with a half-second
left in the countdown because of a bad valve in one of Falcon's nine
engines.Another important test comes Thursday when the Dragon draws close to the space station. It will undergo practice maneuvers from more than a mile out. If all goes well, docking will occur on Friday. Musk will preside from the company's Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif.
Since the
shuttle's retirement last summer, American astronauts have been hitching
rides to the space station aboard Russian rockets, and Russian,
Japanese and European ships have been delivering supplies.
SpaceX has spent more than $1 billion on the project.
Musk,
the 40-year-old entrepreneur who helped create PayPal and runs the
electric car company Tesla Motors, has poured in millions of his own
fortune, and NASA has contributed $381 million in seed money in a
venture that has been likened to the public-private collaboration that
built the Internet and won the West.
Even Musk's rivals were rooting for a successful flight.
"The
shuttle may be retired, but the American dream of space exploration is
alive and well," said Mark Sirangelo, chairman of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s
space systems, which is developing a mini-shuttle to carry space station crews in a few years.
The
Dragon capsule will stay at the space station for a week and then
splash down in the Pacific, bringing back experiments and equipment.
None of the other cargo ships now in use are designed to return safely;
they burn up on the way down.
Two more Dragon supply missions are planned this year, regardless of what happens this week.
The
rocket also blasted into orbit around the Earth the ashes of more than
300 people, including Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and actor James
Doohan, who played Scotty on "Star Trek." The ashes were in a section of
the rocket that was jettisoned during the climb into space.
___
Online:
SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/home/
Celestis Inc.: http://www.celestis.com
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