SpaceX reaches orbit with Falcon 1, on its fourth attempt
A private rocket makes it to space after three failures nearly bankrupted the company
Quick facts
- Company
- SpaceX
- Launch site
- Omelek Island, Kwajalein Atoll
- Attempt number
- 4th (after 3 failures)
- Payload
- 165 kg mass simulator
What happened
On 28 September 2008, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket reached Earth orbit on its fourth launch attempt, becoming the first privately developed, liquid-fueled rocket to do so. The rocket launched from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll carrying a 165-kilogram non-functional payload mass simulator built by SpaceX specifically for the test. The company's first three attempts, in 2006, 2007, and August 2008, had all failed for different reasons: a fuel leak and fire shortly after the first launch, an early engine shutdown on the second, and a stage-separation collision on the third. By the time of the fourth flight, SpaceX was nearly out of money and founder Elon Musk had put most of his personal fortune into the company; a fourth failure would very likely have ended it.
Why it matters
The successful flight kept SpaceX alive to sign a $1.6 billion NASA contract for cargo flights to the International Space Station the following year, the deal that funded development of the far larger Falcon 9 and set the company on the path to becoming the dominant American launch provider within a decade.
How we know
SpaceNews, an industry trade publication that covered the launch directly, documents the payload, launch date, and the achievement's status as the first orbital flight of a privately developed liquid-fuel rocket; Space.com's own report of the launch independently corroborates the date and location.
Sources
- SpaceNews. SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 1 to Orbit · Reputable sourcespacenews.com · The domain "spacenews.com" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Space.com. SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 1 Rocket Into Orbit · General sourcespace.com · Cited as a "news" source (no stronger domain match).
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