[Satellite Today 09-29-08] Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX) launched the first privately funded, liquid-fuelled rocket into orbit Sept. 28.
    The Falcon 1 rocket, which carried a dummy payload, lifted off at 7:15 p.m. EDT from Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific. A single SpaceX-developed Kestrel engine powered the Falcon 1 second stage. According to Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, the orbit insertion was “middle of the bull’s eye.”
This was the fourth launch attempt for the Falcon 1 and second flight for the new SpaceX-developed Merlin 1C regeneratively-cooled engine.

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