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Valley billionaire launches rocket into orbit

On its fourth attempt to reach orbit, the Falcon 1 rocket launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the company founded by PayPal founder and Tesla Motors chairman Elon Musk, reached orbit at 4:26 p.m. Pacific time, about 10 minutes after it was launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

“Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach Earth orbit from the ground!” launch commentator Max Vozoff exclaimed as the Falcon 1’s second-stage engine cut-off, its onboard camera showing a stunning view of the blue Earth more than 100 miles below.

“SpaceX has designed and developed this vehicle from the ground up, from a blank sheet of paper, and we have achieved this with a company that is only now 500 people, and we’ve done this in only six years,” Vozoff said. “And this is just the ground-breaker.”

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