F9 001 success!

It was a huge day for everyone at SpaceX yesterday, we successfully launched our first Falcon 9 to orbit!

  • CNN: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches. Nominal shutdown and orbit was almost exactly 250 km… Telemetry showed essentially a bullseye: 126;0.2% on perigee and 126;1% on apogee.
  • SpaceX: Video highlights at SpaceX.com
  • MSNBC: SpaceX fans and foes speak out. …fans were effusive in their praise, while others were in the “damn with faint praise” category
  • Economist: Feathering the Falcon’s Nest. The launch on June 4th of a Falcon 9 rocket… is a turning point in the development of private space flight. Though the industry’s coming of age is still some way in the future, this launch marks, if you like, its transition from childhood to adolescence.
  • Popular Mechanics: Minute-by-Minute Lessons From Falcon 9’s First Flight. [Recycling after an abort] was in fact one of the most impressive things about the launch, because almost any other vehicle would have had to detank after such an abort and cycle for at least 24 hours.

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