Spaceflight has long been largely led by national governments. A larger role for private companies may call for more than capital; it might also call for a demonstration that they can handle the demands of reaching orbit, and perhaps for substantial institutional support.

SpaceX was established in 2002. In 2006, the company won a $278 million contract from NASA for demonstration flights. One reading is that funding of this kind may have helped a private company develop an orbital rocket.

The Engineering of Privatization

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.

At 2:45 p.m., the rocket fired up its nine first stage engines. The engines burned for three minutes before dropping into the ocean. The booster rocketed into orbit on this dramatic first launch.

A New Procurement Model

The path from a government contract to an orbital launch may point to a shift in how rockets are developed. In general, space agencies can fund private companies to build launch vehicles, an arrangement that might move some engineering risk to the companies and could change how future missions are planned.

A private company reaching orbit may strengthen the case that non-governmental organisations can launch to orbit. Perhaps the larger milestone is not the physics alone but the prospect of a commercial market for access to space.

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