Falcon 9 Launches

After some delays, including one because a boat drifted into waters that would be under the flight path, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on its first test launch from Cape Kennedy. Early on, the launch seems to have been a success.

If that turns out to be the case, it will be a major achievement for SpaceX, a boost for the NewSpace industry, and a political plus for the Obama administration, which plans to rely on commercial boosters, including the Falcon 9, to supply ISS after the shuttle retires, and, eventually, to put humans into low Earth orbit.

Of course, one successful launch is simply that. Developing a new rocket generally involves multiple failures-- and those failures often teach engineers more about the various components of the system than they learn from successes. So, a first success on a first test flight is terrific, but Falcon 9 may yet suffer setbacks before it becomes a reliable, operational launcher. If that happens, we should remember that we know the thing works. It worked today.