On Friday, June 4th, 2010, a major milestone was reached in the history of human spaceflight.
SpaceX, a private aerospace company founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, successfully launched their Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL (20 miles from where I work) into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), around 155 miles from Earth’s surface.
View from my bedroom window… OK not really, but almost.
SCREEE… *record scratch*
This launch was not the first private company to launch a rocket into LEO, they did have funding & assistance from NASA, and the launch configuration was not a simulation for human flight.
So why was this such a momentous occasion? Find out after the jump…
Continue reading SpaceX and the Future of Human Space Flight
