SpaceX

Beginning of a piece of good news from the NYT:

Private Rocket Has Successful First Flight

The maiden flight of a privately-developed rocket that may eventually carry NASA astronauts to space took off Friday afternoon and reached orbit in what appeared to be an almost flawless flight.

The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, SpaceX for short, launched the 154-foot, 735,000-pound Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, heading eastward over the Atlantic. The nine first-stage engines ignited at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time. After burning for three minutes, the first stage dropped off into the ocean while the second-stage engine burned about six minutes to place a capsule into orbit.

It is not reported whether Dan Quayle asked about "the first nine."

(x-posted)