Pete Zaitcev (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} zaitcev) wrote,@ 2008-09-28 17:47:00 |
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Falcon 1 reached orbit
Elon Musk came pretty close to equaling the Russian record of blown-up rockets in a row, established with N-1. But instead, Falcon 1 successfully orbited a 150 kg chunk of aluminum today. I'm sure Robert Bigelow is quite relieved.
The significance of this event lies in the fact that nobody else but Musk and Bigelow is doing anything to establish permanent colonies in space, because it's impossible to sustain human presence with just government money. So, we have to have a business in space, and that is only possible with a reduction to launch costs. And that is what Mr. Musk has vowed to do.
