Commercial era in space opens
Spacex becomes first private company to send supplies to orbiting outpost
A commercially built cargo rocket blasted off for the International Space Station on Tuesday, as private enterprise takes over from NASA in building American space vehicles.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 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 opened a new, entrepreneurial era in space flight, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft has been sent to the orbiting outpost.
Cutting a brilliant, fiery arc through the darkness, 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 — the capsule was packed with only non- essential 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.”