FIRST COMMERCIAL ROCKET

On 22 May 2012 the first commercial rocket had been blasted off to carry supplies to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon9 took off from Cape Canaveral and took over the service from the cancelled Space Shuttles.

The billionaire founder Elon Musk of paypal sent a highly delighted message on Twitter that Falcon9 flew perfectly. It was the first time the mission was financed by a private firm.

Falcon 9 its 178ft long unmanned rocket carrying a capsule Dragon which ejected. The 14.5ft capsule opened its solar panels and unpacked its navigation equipment. Dragon is programmed to carry out a series of manoeuvres. This will happen 1.6miles away from ISS to prove its perfection.

NASA decided to deliver 1000lbs of clothes, food and other supplies to the six astronauts and Russian cosmonauts there at the moment. On completion the capsule Dragon will be filled with rubbish and return to earth.

So far there were no successful Falcon9 missions. Last year the Shuttles program was cancelled and the US relied on Russian Soyuz craft. Chief science adviser John Holdren stated that the launch started a new era in American Space-flight.

The ashes of the actor James Doohan, who played the chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in the original Star Trek TV series, were on board of the Falcon9. The lipstick-sized capsule was launched from the rocket when it was nine minutes into its flight. There were also 307 further capsules of fellow space fans.  Doohan died of pneumonia in 2005 aged 85.

An US-company Celestis organises these Earth orbiting space memorial which cost £1,900. Relatives are attending the launch and memorial service.