SpaceX: Top secret payload no longer secret

William Atkins
Saturday, 11 December 2010 00:34

Science - Space

The first commercial spacecraft to launch into orbit and return home safety carried a kinda top-secret payload. The heads of SpaceX let the 'payload'-out-of-the-bag on Thursday, informing everyone what was inside the Dragon spacecraft.

The successful mission of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft into a two-orbit trip around the world contained a payload that was kept a secret by those crazy guys at SpaceX.

SpaceX is short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp, an U.S. space transport company founded by Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal.

The iTWire story 'Historic launch: SpaceX's Falcon 9' reports on the first mission of a commercial spacecraft (Dragon) going off into space and returning safety to Earth - a historic event in space exploration.

The day after the spacecraft safety splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, SpaceX released the following press release: 'SpaceX Reveal's Dragon's 'Secret' Payload.'

SpaceX stated, 'Before the successful launch, voyage, and recovery of SpaceX's Dragon Spacecraft, the first time in history a commercial company has recovered a spacecraft from orbit, reporters were buzzing with news of a 'secret' payload, stowed on board.'

And, 'It was a payload so secret, SpaceXers made it Top Secret (think Val Kilmer 1984, not official US Government).'

They said the payload was bolted to the floor of the spacecraft. Gooda job!

Page two reveals the secret. Try to curd your enthusiasm for the answer. The answer is whey more exciting than you could imagine.