SpaceX Falcon 1 Reaches Orbit

After many blunders, the SpaceX Falcon 1 has reached orbit successfully. The privately-funded rocket program, backed by Elon Musk, has finally been realized after three attempts that failed, resulting in the scattering of "Scotty," actor James Montgomery Doohan from Star Trek fame's ashes over the Pacific Ocean and a few explosions. 

The entire thing may have been filled with flubs but the important thing is they've done it now. This was a great step toward fully private launches. The really cool thing is that the rocket did not use any governmentally-developed hardware. This was all unique and original equipment.

Even more impressive, just 550 people helped make this Space X launch possible. When you get right down to it, that's incredible. Falcon 1 is set to launch again for Malaysia and the Falcon 9, a larger rocket, is set to take flight by Q2 in 2009.

[via Gizmodo]