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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Oct 9 - A prototype communications satellite flying as a secondary payload aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket was sent into the wrong orbit because of a problem during launch Sunday evening, officials said Tuesday. One of the nine Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9 rocket shut down early, though the other engines burned longer to make up for the loss of thrust, saving the primary mission of delivering a Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station for NASA. The rocket blasted off at 8:35 p.m. EDT Sunday (0035 GMT Monday) from Cape Canaveral...

After opening several stores without much pushback, Elon Musk's ambition to replicate the Apple experience in Tesla factory stores is now facing potential roadblocks. Dealer associations in a handful of states, and state regulators in at least one case, say Tesla's stores violate state franchise laws that prohibit factory ownership of dealerships. Electric-vehicle maker Tesla now operates 17 stores in 10 states and the District of Columbia, most in shopping malls. Another six are scheduled to open this fall. The protesting dealer associations say Tesla's factory-owned stores present unfair competition for rival dealerships, are inconvenient for consumers needing repairs and,...

SpaceX is poised to start work on a $1.6 billion contract with NASA today, when a Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off with 882 pounds of supplies on the first operational commercial cargo flight to the International Space Station. Tonight's liftoff time is 8:35 p.m. EDT/5:35 p.m. PDT (0035 GMT). The capsule will return to Earth in late October with approximately 1,673 pounds of equipment from the space station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A private company is on the verge of launching another cargo ship to the International Space Station. On Sunday night, California-based SpaceX will attempt to send a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab and its three-member crew. Liftoff of the company's unmanned Falcon rocket is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. EDT. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 60 percent. Thick clouds and rain are the main concerns. A Dragon cargo ship successfully docked to the space station last May, but that was considered a test flight. The coming mission is the first under a $1.6 billion...

Solar panel installer SolarCity Corp filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $201 million in an initial public offering that could help rekindle investor appetite for cleantech stocks. ....Companies including Google Inc and U.S. Bancorp have provided funds to finance SolarCity's projects. Those investors are able to collect a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar energy systems...... ...SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive along with their cousin, PayPal co-founder and Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk.... SolarCity hopes it can buck the lackluster trend among recent cleantech IPOs.... ....[SolorCity's] total revenue was $46.6...

Space Shuttle Discovery sailed off into the sunset and the United States for the first time in a half century has no proven ability to put men into space. Thank President Obama. Or maybe, thank SpaceX founder Elon Musk. (See Rand Simberg’s very different take on things.) SpaceX is getting federal dollars that NASA would otherwise use. .......While NASA dollars have moved into the pockets of SpaceX, we now know that Elon Musk is an Obama bundler. Yesterday I had a conversation with a Congressman who revealed to me that Musk is a big Obama friend and bundler. Musk has...

Here we go again. It’s unfortunate that so many supposed conservatives are opposed to competitive markets in spaceflight, to the point that they embarrass themselves with ignorant rants against the Obama space policy, one of the very few things that the administration has gotten sort of right. This time, it’s at Big Government, by someone named George Landrith, and it would be an embarrassment to the late and justifiably revered Andrew Breitbart, who started that web site. To address all of the ill-informed nonsense unfortunately requires a good old-fashioned fisking (warning: long post to follow):

Despite the news and pictures from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, America's once great space program is on life support because we no longer have a serious manned space exploration program....And the Obama Administration's unimaginative and amateurish vision for space exploration -- even if successful -- will not revive the dying program. It merely follows the disturbing pattern of the Solyndra scandal, funneling tax dollars to Obama donors and fundraisers. [SNIP] ....SpaceX collects tax dollars so that it can learn how to build and develop something that other companies were doing a generation ago. It is curious that SpaceX is now...

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule completed a nearly perfect flight this morning, splashing down as planned in the Pacific Ocean within a mile of its target. It replicated everything that the Gemini series of flights in the sixties did in a single flight — getting to orbit, performing a rendezvous with another object, closely approaching it, berthing to it, detaching from it, and entering the atmosphere to be retrieved by a ship — except that it was entirely unmanned (so no spacewalk — that will await flights with crew aboard). The only problem encountered was an issue with the LIDAR, the laser...

As Texas appears to be getting more serious about enticing SpaceX to build a spaceport near Brownsville an environmental group has stepped forward to oppose the project.At issue is the threat of “noise, heat, vibration, fencing and hazardous material spills” from the proposed spaceport that could lower the value of nearby Boca Chica Park and the Lower Rio Grande Valley Natural Wildlife Refuge.Here’s the full text of a news release issued today by Environment Texas: Environment Texas launched a petition drive today to stop the proposed construction of a spaceport on private land almost completely surrounded by a south Texas...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The SpaceX Dragon capsule parachuted into the Pacific on Thursday to conclude the first private delivery to the International Space Station and inaugurate NASA's new approach to exploration. "Welcome home, baby," said SpaceX's elated chief, Elon Musk, who said the old-fashioned splashdown was "like seeing your kid come home."

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship on Friday, the first privately owned vehicle to reach the orbital outpost. The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 22, 2012. The unmanned rocket owned by privately held Space Exploration Technologies blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday for a mission designed to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. The 178-foot (54-meter) tall Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:44 a.m. (0744 GMT) from a...

It sounds like a routine event for NASA: At 4:55 a.m. on Saturday, a rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and carry cargo — but no people — to the International Space Station. But if all goes as planned, that morning will mark something transformative for the space industry: a victory for capitalism in what has been for decades a government-run enterprise. The capsule, built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — SpaceX, for short — would be the first commercial spacecraft to make it to the space station, and many observers view its launching as the...

On May 19, if all goes well, the private spaceflight company SpaceX will launch the first commercial spaceship ever to visit the International Space Station. But the mission will be like no other U.S. flight to the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver food, supplies and science experiments to the outpost as a test mission for NASA. The space agency awarded the company a $1.6 billion contract for eight robotic resupply flights to fill the delivery needs left over by the space shuttle fleet's retirement last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A privately built space capsule that's zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race. The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk — was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.

Running well ahead of schedule,the International Space Station's crew opened hatches between the Harmony module and the newly arrived SpaceX Dragon cargo ship early Saturday to kick off a busy few days of work to unload about a half ton of supplies and equipment. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57442083-76/station-astronauts-enjoy-new-car-smell-of-spacex-cargo-craft/?tag=mncol;topStories

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station for a historic docking Friday, captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm. It succeeded in making the first commercial delivery into the cosmos. U.S. astronaut Donald Pettit used the space station's 58-foot robot arm to snare the gleaming white Dragon after a few hours of extra checks and maneuvers. The two vessels came together while sailing above Australia. "Looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit announced from 250 miles up once he locked onto Dragon's docking mechanism. "You've made...

SpaceX’s unmanned spacecraft approached the international space station for a historic docking Friday after sailing through a practice run a day earlier. Watch live video of the capsule as it maneuvers to link up and dock with the space station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A privately bankrolled spacecraft is getting ever closer to the International Space Station for a historic docking today. The SpaceX Dragon capsule contains a half-ton of supplies. The station's crew will use a robot arm to snare the Dragon. On Thursday, the unmanned capsule came within 1½ miles of the space station in a practice fly-by. Early Friday, it returned to the neighborhood...

Explanation: This fire-breathing Dragon can fly. Pictured above yesterday, SpaceX Corporation's Falcon 9 rocket capped with a Dragon spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The successful launch was significant not only because it demonstrated that a private company has the ability to re-supply the International Space Station (ISS), but also that spaceflight has taken a significant step away from being an endeavor that only big governments can do with public money. If all continues as planned, the robotic Dragon will dock with the ISS this weekend. Over the next two weeks, the ISS Expedition 31 crew will then...