NINE minutes into its maiden voyage, the privately owned Falcon 9 rocket was in orbit, scoring major points for the idea of commercial space taxis. But a crucial safety hurdle still looms.
The company SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, wants to use its rocket to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station after the remaining space shuttles retire at the end of 2010. The success of Falcon 9’s first flight on 4 June bolstered its case, but SpaceX still needs to build an ejection system. In the event of a stalled or exploding rocket, this would hurl the crew…
