OTD In Space – June 4: Falcon 9 Rocket Reaches Orbit
On June 4, 2010, the first Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage and reached orbit.
Space Exploration Technologies, or Space X, was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, an internet entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and leads Tesla Motors. The rocket almost didn't leave that day. It came close to the end of its 4-hour launch window because of an issue with the Flight Termination System. But it was able to successfully launch and officially began its $1.6 billion contract with NASA to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the ISS over 12 Dragon flights through 2016. The rocket carried a prototype Dragon spacecraft designed for cargo trips to the International Space Station. SpaceX began official NASA delivery flights with Dragon and Falcon 9 at the end of 2010.
Space Exploration Technologies, or Space X, was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, an internet entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and leads Tesla Motors. The rocket almost didn't leave that day. It came close to the end of its 4-hour launch window because of an issue with the Flight Termination System. But it was able to successfully launch and officially began its $1.6 billion contract with NASA to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the ISS over 12 Dragon flights through 2016. The rocket carried a prototype Dragon spacecraft designed for cargo trips to the International Space Station. SpaceX began official NASA delivery flights with Dragon and Falcon 9 at the end of 2010.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:032010, the first Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX
00:06blasted off from Cape Canaveral
00:08on its maiden voyage and reached orbit.
00:10Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX,
00:13was founded by billionaire Elon Musk,
00:15an internet entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and Tesla.
00:19The rocket almost didn't leave that day.
00:21It came close to the end of its four-hour launch window
00:23because of a glitch with the flight termination system.
00:26But it was able to successfully launch,
00:28kicking off SpaceX's $1.6 billion contract with NASA
00:32to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the International Space Station
00:35over 12 Dragon flights through 2016.
00:38The rocket carried a prototype Dragon spacecraft
00:40designed for cargo trips to the International Space Station.
00:43SpaceX began official NASA delivery flights
00:45with Dragon and Falcon 9 at the end of 2010.
00:48And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:51NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology