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At Long Last, a Private Cargo Spaceship Takes Off (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the ad-astra-per-aspera dept.

Tuesday morning at 0344, right on schedule (and it had to be right on schedule), Elon Musk's baby finally left the launch pad on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). Two babies, actually: the Falcon 9 launch vehicle is what we watched as it took off from Cape Canaveral -- the first private spaceship headed for the ISS -- with the Dragon spacecraft perched on its nose. The Dragon carried over 1000 pounds of supplies and experiments for the ISS. The launch went off without a hitch. But don't stop holding your breath quite yet; Dragon isn't scheduled to dock at the ISS until Friday. Slashdot now accepts reader-submitted video, either edited or raw. Email robinATroblimoPERIODcom for details.

4 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. It will all be fine by bobstreo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Scotty is on board.

  2. Not bad, Slashdot by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Insightful
    • Using video for action, text for info. Check.
    • Very little "talking heads". Check
    • Geek interest. Check
    • Short, and to the point. Check

    Not bad. That's the way to do video.

  3. Re:An accounting marvel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, you could call Lockheed Martin, Morton Thaikol, Boeing,, et al "private companies", but I think the difference is that none of them would suck a deep breath without a government contract signed, sealed and delivered.

    SpaceX designed, built and tested their Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft on their own dime.

    Yes, I know NASA provided some funding, but that was extra funding. You can bet Elon Musk would have funded the whole thing himself if he had to.

  4. Re:And now we can cut off space funding. by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it had been left to the private sector, we'd wouldn't have got to the moon, mars, the heliosheath. And despite the fact that earth orbit is profitable, probably no private sector project would have made the investment or taken the risk to go to space at all.

    Space X can only do what it's doing now because it's standing on the shoulders of previous public sector projects. And heck this very project is being paid for by the public sector.