Originally published January 6 2006
Entrepreneur Elon Musk to launch rocket
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Musk, the founder of the electronic payment services firm PayPal, has invested about $100 million of his own money to develop a rocket. The rocket is 70 feet tall and 5.5 feet in diameter.
The maiden launch of a start-up rocket company funded by self-made internet entrepreneur Elon Musk was scrubbed again on Monday from a remote island in the western Pacific Ocean.
"Launch is scrubbed until early next year,as there is a structural issue with the 1st stage fuel tank that will require repair," Musk said in a statement.
A computer glitch and a problem with a fuel vent valve forced SpaceX to abandon its first launch attempt, in November.
Falcon was to carry a science satellite built by the U.S. Air Force Academy for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The rocket, which stands 70 feet tall and 5.5 feet in diameter, has two newly developed engines.
The first stage, called Merlin, is designed to fire about three minutes before separating for a parachute descent into the ocean.
The motor is recovered and refurbished for a future flight.
The second engine, called Kestrel, can be started and stopped several times to precisely position a payload in orbit.
Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, sells its basic Falcon launcher, which can carry about 1,500 pounds to orbit, for about $6.7 million.
That is about one-third the going rate for a similarly-sized ride aboard an Orbital Sciences' Pegasus booster.
Musk already has plans and customers for a medium-lift Falcon 5 and a heavy-lift Falcon 9, which sell for at least half the price of the established brands.
SpaceX already has won contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Air Force, the government of Malaysa, Swedish Space Corp., and Bigelow Aerospace for launch services.
The company plans to bid for a potentially lucrative NASA contract to fly cargo, and possibly eventually astronauts, to the International Space Station after the shuttle fleet is retired.
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