FYI,

"SpaceX Successfully Launches Commercial Satellite to Orbit"
Space.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090714/sc_space/spacexsuccessfullylaunchescommer\
cialsatellitetoorbit

: A private spaceflight company launched a Malaysian satellite into
: orbit using a rocket of its own design late Monday, marking the
: firm's first successful commercial space shot.

: The Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies, Corp.
: (SpaceX) launched the small satellite atop its Falcon 1 rocket, a
: two-stage booster that made its first successful test flight last
: year after three consecutive failures. It was the fifth Falcon 1
: launch for SpaceX, but its first to successfully haul a functional
: Earth-watching satellite into its intended orbit.

: The Falcon 1 rocket blasted off at about 11:35 p.m. EDT
: (0335 July 14 GMT) from the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic
: Defense Test Site on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll, a launch
: site that sits about 2,500 miles (4,023 km) southwest of Hawaii.

: Delayed liftoff

: A malfunction in equipment used to load helium aboard the Falcon 1
: rocket pushed the mission four hours beyond its initial launch
: target, with stormy weather delaying the mission even more. SpaceX
: initially hoped to launch RazakSAT in April, but the need to
: eliminate a vibration issue between the satellite and its Falcon 1
: rocket set the flight back several months.

: But despite those lengthy delays, Monday's launch ultimately
: reached orbit without a hitch. After jettisoning its first stage as
: designed, the Falcon 1 booster reached a parking orbit and later
: restarted its rocket engine to deploy RazakSAT in an orbit that
: flies high above Earth's equator.

: "Second burn and satellite separation nominal," SpaceX officials
: said in an update. "Falcon 1 has successfully deployed RazakSAT
: into the correct orbit."

: RazakSAT was built by Malaysia's Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn.
: Bhd. (ATSB) to take high-resolution images of Malaysia to aid land
: management, resource development and conservation, forestry and
: fish migration studies, SpaceX officials said. The satellite
: carries a camera that can observe Earth at a panchromatic
: resolution of 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) and a color resolution of about
: 16.4 feet (5 meters).

: The Falcon 1 rocket launched several hours after NASA canceled its
: own launch of the space shuttle Endeavour in Florida for the fifth
: time, this time due to foul weather. The shuttle is slated to
: launch Wednesday to begin a long-delayed construction flight to the
: International Space Station.

: Falcon rocket family

: SpaceX, too, has its eyes on flying to the International Space
: Station. Founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk, a co-founder of
: the electronic payment service PayPal, SpaceX is aiming to offer
: low-cost launches to space with its Falcon 1 rocket and a larger
: version called Falcon 9.

: The Falcon 1 rocket can haul small satellites, like the nearly
: 400-pound (180-kg) RazakSAT, into low Earth orbit. After three
: launch failures between 2006 and 2008, SpaceX successfully reached
: orbit with a Falcon 1 rocket last September. Falcon 1 launches
: currently cost about $8 million per flight, SpaceX officials have
: said.

: The larger Falcon 9, however, is designed to launch SpaceX's Dragon
: spacecraft, a capsule-based vehicle tapped by NASA as one of two
: privately built spacecraft to ferry cargo to and from the
: International Space Station. NASA awarded SpaceX with a
: $1.6 billion contract last year to launch 12 unmanned cargo flights
: to the space station by 2016. The other vehicle, Orbital Sciences
: Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft, received a $1.9 billion from NASA for
: eight cargo flights.

: SpaceX has drawn plans for a free-flying version of Dragon, called
: DragonLab, for space experiments, as well as a manned version to
: launch astronauts to and from the space station. The company plans
: to launch its first Falcon 9 rocket test flight sometime this year
: from a seaside pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
: Florida, SpaceX officials have said.

Mark Reiff