Space X Falcon 9: lancement réussi!

 

Une nouvelle ère dans l'exploration de l'espace. Une réussite et des questions.

 "Dreams of a new era of commercial space exploration took flight on early Tuesday morning as private company SpaceX successfully launched a rocket it hopes will become the first commercial vessel ever to dock with, and deliver cargo to, the International Space Station.

 SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted-off from Cape Canaveral at 3:44 am ET, exactly on time, following a “smooth countdown and no technical problems,” according to NASA, which is working with SpaceX on the mission.

The 157-foot-tall rocket reached Earth’s orbit about 10 minutes later and separated as planned from the Dragon cargo vessel aboard. The Dragon then deployed an array of solar panels that help to power the craft.

 “Falcon flew perfectly!! Dragon in orbit, comm locked and solar arrays active!! Feels like a giant weight just came off my back :),” tweeted Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and chief designer, who founded the company with the billions he made after co-creating the online payments service PayPal.

Fielding questions in a video-conference from SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, Musk later compared the feeling he had in seeing the spacecraft take flight to “winning the Super Bowl.”

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/spacex-dragon-launch-succeeds-now-comes-the-hard-part.php?ref=fpnewsfeed