Another Space Milestone
Burt Rutan’s Space Ship One was the first privately launched rocket to carry a human to the edge of space. They won the Ansari X-Prize for it. The achievement is comparable to Alan Shephard’s famous first flight to the edge of space and then back down. No earth orbit, just getting up there.
Now comes word that another rocket, the Falcon-1 from Space Exploration Technologies, had a successful engine test firing today. This means they are “go” for a human-rated launch later this year.
There are several more groups around the world that are nearing readiness for launch. It means an era of commercial space flight, cheaper access to space, and maybe space tourism. Not too much futher down the road, we can hope, will be space stations.
