Budget rocket cuts space mission short

A low-cost commercial rocket reached space on Tuesday but had to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere because of a problem during the second-stage burn, according to the entrepreneur behind the launch.

Despite the short flight the launch was considered a success by Elon Musk, founder of Space Exploration Technologies and co-founder of internet financial services firm PayPal Inc.

"We successfully reached space and really retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket, so I feel very good about where things are," he said.

The test of the rocket's capabilities is seen as a first step for the company toward providing a private and cheaper alternative for cargo delivery to space: from sending communications satellites into orbit to delivering supplies and parts to the International Space Station.

The company is offering the rocket and its heavy-lift booster for about $6.7 million US.

The rocket launch from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean was broadcast on the internet. The 21-metre booster rocket called Falcon-1 encountered no problems until late in the second-stage burn, when a remote-control problem shut down the stage after the rocket had reached an altitude of 300 km.

Musk said the rocket likely re-enteredthe Earth's atmosphereafter less than one Earth orbit.

"We feel that's something pretty straightforward to address," he said from El Segundo, Calif., where Space Exploration Technologies is based.

It was the first successful launch for Musk's company, also known as SpaceX. A launch of the Falcon-1 rocket nearly a year ago was aborted when leaking fuel caught fire seconds into liftoff. The Falcon-1's two-stage rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene.

The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was the customer for the flight.

Interest in commercial space flight has risen in recent years since the 2004 success of SpaceShipOne in achieving sub-orbital flight at a height of 100 km above the Earth.

Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic bought the rights to develop a fleet of spaceships based on SpaceShipOne and is expected to begin launching flights in 2008.

But while Virgin Galactic's ships will only be able to achieve sub-orbital flight, Musk's rocket was able to achieve a low-Earth orbit, a task that requires much more energy but will be necessary to deliver satellites and reach the space station, which orbits the Earth at a distance of between 300 and 350 km.

The company has already won a $278-million award from NASA to demonstrate cargo delivery services to the space station. Musk said he expects the rocket's next mission would be to deliver a military communications satellite into orbit.