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Company to launch small rockets for less cost Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, plans to launch its proposed Falcon rocket from a state-owned pad at Space Launch Complex 46, Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Space Authority officials said. Florida Space Authority has invested about $10 million modifying the launch complex, where Athena boosters have launched such spacecraft as the Lunar Prospector. The state developed a launch pad flexible enough to host different kinds of small launchers, said the space authority's director of business development, Tim Franta. "It's important because there activity is in smaller class rockets," Franta said. "It's important that we don't lose the capacity for the smaller size rockets." The Falcon, which could launch for the first time as early as 2004, is a two-stage, kerosene-fueled vehicle that would carry about 1,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit. By comparison, new rockets developed by The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. can boost payloads weighing at least 10 to 20 times that much. So the Falcon is more likely to compete against smaller launch vehicles such as Orbital Sciences' Pegasus. Industry and government reports have put the price of a Pegasus launch at about $20 million. SpaceX is aiming to sell a ride aboard its Falcon rocket forabout $10 million, Franta said SpaceX, based near Los Angeles, is the third company founded by Elon Musk.His most recent endeavor, the PayPal internet payment service, was bought by theonline auction giant eBay in October for $1.5 billion "This is an exciting announcement because it brings new space industryinnovations to Florida," Bush said. "Visionary companies like SpaceX are shaping the space industry's future and will be responsible for the development of new markets we can only begin to imagine." MARGO WITCHER - (321) 730-5301 |
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