Today's successful Falcon 9 test flight shows President Obama's proposed NASA policy is on the right track, said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. "I think this bodes very well for the Obama plan," said Musk, an Internet entrepreneur who founded the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company in 2002. "I think it really helps vindicate the approach that he's taking, and it shows that even a sort of small, new company like SpaceX can make a real difference."
Musk spoke to reporters by phone a little over two hours after the Falcon 9 rocket's 2:45 p.m. blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on its inaugural flight.
He said the rocket's upper stage and dummy payload reached an orbit that was a "near bull's-eye," and called Friday "a great day."
Obama has proposed cancelling NASA's Constellation program, which was building the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule to fly astronauts.
Instead, the president wants private companies, possibly including SpaceX, to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and into low Earth orbit, saying it could be more cost-effective.
SpaceX already owns a $1.6 billion NASA contract to fly 12 space station cargo resupply missions, which Musk says could begin next year after two or three more demonstration flights.
Critics in Congress continue to fight Obama the plan.
Shortly after today's launch, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, offered tepid praise in a statement, calling it "a belated sign that efforts to develop modest commercial space cargo capabilities are showing some promising signs."
But Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, was among many dignitaries and friends Musk said had made congratulatory phone calls.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden also offered congratulations, calling the launch "an important milestone."
Read more about the first Falcon 9 launch in Saturday's FLORIDA TODAY.
IMAGE: By Craig Baily, Florida Today.
25 comments:
So is Obama / Musk going to blame George Bush for this launch?
I mean give him credit for it
2 Billion Tax Payer dollars given by Bush to this private company to launch, while he canceled NASA launches. Republicanism at work, socialism for private launches. Privatization by Tax payers the republican paradise. Enjoy your republican non regulated oil pollution on the beach and your non regulated Wall street banks.
Hutchinson really wrote that today's launch is "a sign of promising signs"? Ouch! I've seen better writing from Middle School students.
Hey slick B.P. gave Obama the most campaign money out of all the pres. candidates and he got a ton of money from his little Space X buddy Munsk . The Yobama Adm . also lauded this B.P. deep water rig as the state of the art in deep water drilling giving it a big safety award. Why are we even drilling in these deep waters anyway ? We should be drilling on land where you can contain or cap a leak not 6000 ft. below the ocean but due to your party selling out to all these enviromental wacko group s that was you get . What a shame . Obama blast big oil out one side of his mouth then takes their money . What a bunch of suckers Hope Change Transparency kep drinking that kool aid
With that choice of headline how can anyone believe the media is objective?
This story is just another hammer on the coffin. Ft should be reporting the REAL news about space-ex and how they have undermined the safety and procedures of the real space program. This launch was a FAILURE but it will not be reported.
You think Challenger and Columbia killed astronauts ?
SpaceX is going to be the worst disaster that manned spaceflight has ever seen in the free world.
If there IS such a thing as the free world anymore.
SpaceX and today's launch are nothing more than a political JOKE.
Mr. Musk is lucky his launch is a “success”. Seems he is facing some financial problems. Not to worry, some large Chinese corporation will buy SpaceX and bail him out.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/28/autos/tesla_elon_musk/index.htm?section=money_autos
Good to see the California rocket Cartel is worried.
Obama does not support manned space flight.
If he did, Obama would have extended the Space Shuttle Program until 2016. He rather pay Russia for passengers aboard the Soyuz.
Obama rather have 25,000 U.S. citizens become unemployed due to the termination of the Space Shuttle program.
Send letters to Senate, House of Representives and Obama to bring common sense change to U.S. government,
extend the Space Shuttle program to 2016! Save U.S. jobs!!!
Give me a break!
Congratulations to Space X, but one test flight does not validate President Obama's plans.
Let's face it, Progress has been doing what Dragon is due to accomplish since January 1978! Then there is Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle and Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle!But, of course none of these count do they, because they are not American.
When Dragon finally carries suplies to ISS it will be a great American achievement and the American press will forget that everyone else has already done it.
Yesterday, 300 people became unemployed at KSC.
The economy is a mess. Unemployment is high -- everywhere!
25,000 people will become unemployed due to termination of the Space Shuttle.
It is the wrong time to lay off people. I hope Space Shuttle program is extended to 2016 and save 25,000 jobs.
The Space Shuttle program had many accomplishments and laying off these skilled people is heartless.
Our taxpayer money is going to Russia for transporting U.S. astronauts to International Space Station.
I realize Obama does not care about U.S. citizens.
I hope Obama is not heartless.
COTS was Bush's plan, and I think a good one. Fifty years one, manned orbital flight shouldn't be just affordable by governments. All Obama has done is try to prevent NASA venturing beyond Earth orbit.
Anon 10:37 PM
"This launch was a FAILURE but it will not be reported."
Would you like to explain why? It made orbit, which is not always the case of the maiden flight on a new launch vehicle. Yes there was a slight roll of the second stage, but that's what test flights are for. To find out things like that.
Space shuttle coast $450,000,000 per mission compared to Space X $135,000,000 that real money difference, If I did math right $315, 000, 00 savings per mission, and about 4 billon over 12 flights.
Shuttle 12 flights $5,400,000,000
Space X 12 flights $1,600,000,000
Total Savings $3,800,000,000
If you put the cost in terms of weight per dollar then Space Shuttle, Ares I, and Ares V would end up being much cheaper in the long run. Especially with the reliability and safety that come with those programs.
Also, this is not Obama's plan because this is another NASA funded product. Obama's plan is to purchase a private company's rockets for use. Like a construction worker buying a Ford F-150. It won't work though because you can't create private industry and market when the demand is ZERO. This isn't a toy that you can build and hope to market it later. You need to know that somebody will buy a rocket before you start up a program and there isn't any demand because even NASA doesn't have a goal right now to fly anywhere.
Nazz,
That is only true of the space shuttle if you count the mass of orbiter in the weight to orbit. If you count cargo only it is far cheaper to loft the falcon 9. Furthermore, it is entirely untrue for the Ares 1 as current projections have it costing more than the shuttle per flight and it has no "orbiter", only the capsule and is not designed to ferry cargo. Finally, it is not practical to predict the cost of the Ares 5 at this point, as it is a paper rocket.
Ares carries four people and a few hundred pounds of cargo and flies twice a year. For the same amount of money Shuttle carries seven people and 22,000 pounds of cargo and flies five times a year. The Shuttle, which works, was canceled to pay for Constellation, which doesn't work. If NASA would allow Constellation to be canceled there would be enough money to easily continue Shuttle.
After 30 years, Shuttle is finally working superbly. If NASA asked, Obama would be happy to keep it flying until we actually have something better. The only reason we are all going to lose our jobs is that Constellation refuses to be canceled and is consuming billions.
Would one of the many ardent Constellation supporters out there please explain why you want to kill off the Shuttle and get us all fired?
As to SpaceX, The government is certainly not their only customer. The commercial launch business at the Cape died during the Bush administration, but Musk has more commercial launches on his order book than the Cape has seen in a decade.
>>Obama does not support manned space flight. If he did, Obama would have extended the Space Shuttle Program until 2016. He rather pay Russia for passengers aboard the Soyuz.
Hey, check your history. George W. Bush canceled the Shuttle program in 2006. He also ordered the ISS canceled. Under his plan there would have been no US human spaceflights at all for at least five years. How come you didn't complain then?
Obama extended ISS and would be happy even today to extend Shuttle, but the Constellation leadership has been fighting the idea tooth and nail. Why is NASA fighting to destroy the most advanced and productive human spaceflight program it has ever had?
The Shuttle isn't suitable to deliver crews to the ISS as it can't stay up there for six months to bring them back.
Unless Dragon is man-rated, Soyuz is the only way.
I hate to see the Shuttles grounded, but they do need a role if they are to keep flying.
It appears the goal of most posters is to attach Obama regardless of what happens. Why didn't any Brevard Republicans complain when Bush canceled the Shuttle in 2004 and put us all out of work?
The assent was a success but the descent was a complete failure. Nothing left to recover except for debris. How does that fit Obama anb Bolden's plan?
The descent of what? The first stage? No liquid fueled first stages are recovered from any rocket. SpaceX is trying to determine a way to recover and reuse theirs.
The second stage and spacecraft are still in orbit and will not have a controlled rentry. Rentry will be performed for the first time on the next flight.
Good job Space X. Make low earth orbit cheaper so we can do something else with the limited space dollars. I like the Space Shuttle to but NASA's job is to develop technology, not do the same thing over and over again.
Anyone who claims that Space X will make spaceflight cheaper is only kidding themselves. They have already stated they will expect upwards of 52 million per launch. We are already paying that to the Soviet program ustilizing their Soyuz! If even private enterprize succeeds, the normal man will still never get into space. It will only be a joy ride for the rich.
Anonymous@8:46 am: The SpaceX estimate of $20 million per seat is based upon seven people flying aboard Dragon spacecraft on each flight.....
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