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Private rocket not up to NASA standards
Posted: Oct 8, 2012 4:48 PM by Joe Bevans
WASHINGTON (AP) - A private rocket successfully sent a capsule full of cargo zipping toward the International Space Station in a first of its kind delivery for NASA, but couldn't deliver on job No. 2: putting a commercial satellite into the correct orbit. One of nine engines on Space X company's Falcon 9 rocket failed Sunday after launch. The engine didn't explode. There was enough power to send the Dragon capsule and it's half a ton of supplies toward the space station. Then, the rocket was supposed to send an industrial communications satellite into orbit for Orbcomm of Dulles, Va. But Orbcomm said safety rules prevented Falcon from firing its second stage engines. The satellite is in lower orbit and engineers are trying to figure out how to boost it.
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