A private company, SpaceX successfully launched a rocket which placed a dummy payload into the Earth’s orbit. The founder of the company Mr. Elon Musk, an internet entrepreneur born in South Africa was elated at the launch and said “We have made Orbit.....It was a flawless launch”. 

The launch was special because firstly it came after three prior failed attempts, secondly, it was a great achievement for a privately funded company and thirdly, the Pentagon and NASA were watching the progress of the project closely as SpaceX is developing a larger rocket, the Falcon 9 .to provide cargo services to the International Space Station for NASA after the shuttle program winds down in 2010 

SpaceX was first started by Musk in 2002 after selling the online payment company PayPal to eBay for $1.5 Billion. It has some 500 employees and has bagged one of the most prestigious Prizes of the new space industry: a commercial Orbital transportation service contract worth as much as $100 million.

Mr Musk used one word for the launch, he said it was ‘awesome’ He further added that “there were a lot of people who thought we couldn’t do it _a lot actually.........It is great to have this giant monkey off my back.

The 70-foot Falcon 1 liquid-fuel rocket was launched on Sunday from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific ocean at 7:16 pm, Eastern Time. It carried what is called a Payload Mass simulator,a 364-pound Weight. The launch was shown live on the company’s official website, spacex.com. Those at the headquarters were in a euphoric state and even more when the first and second stages separated successfully. 

However there was a long pause in the celebration when mission control lost contact with the craft as it neared orbital velocity, its engine nozzle glowing bright red, the image appeared again and the cheers resumed. The Company’s morale has got a big boost and is all set to develop larger versions able to carry cargo to and from the space station.