Heard the big news? No, not the Great Government Bailout of 2008. A real-live capitalist, using his own money and moxie, racked up the first successful flight of a rocket he's been developing to change the game in space. The dude is Elon Musk, of Pay-Pal fame and fortune, who has been picking away at the not insubstantial barriers to entry into the commercial space arena. "That was freakin' awesome," Musk said after the launch Sunday night. The Falcon 1 booster lifted off from Omelek Island at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. It was Musk's fourth attempt to reach orbit. The battle is far from over. With a successful launch on the books, Musk told me in an interview last week that he's going to make a bid for ferrying astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttle is retired. Technical know-how, Musk has now demonstrated. As for the political battles to come, the challenges may just be beginning. Check back at space.discovery.com on Monday for an exclusive Q&A with Musk. Here's a really good account of the launch on SpaceflightNow.com . And here's a Discovery News story about what this launch might mean for NASA and the U.S. space program ...
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