Internet entrepreneur successfully launches rocket on 4th try

The co-founder of internet financial services firm, PayPal Inc., launched a commercial rocket into orbit on Sunday in a bid to make space travel affordable for the general public.

The South Pacific launch marked Space Exploration Technologies' fourth attempt to get its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit.

Elon Musk, who made his fortune with the PayPal electronic payment system, pledged to continue getting rockets into orbit, saying the company has resolved design issues that plagued previous attempts.

Last month, Space Exploration lost three government satellites and human ashes, including the remains of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan after its third rocket was lost en route to space. The company blamed a timing error for the failure that caused the rocket's first stage to bump into the second stage after separation.

The company's maiden launch in 2006 failed because of a fuel line leak. Last year, another rocket reached about 290 km above Earth, but its second stage prematurely shut off.

Falcon 1, a 21-metre-long rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, is the first in a family of low-cost launch vehicles priced at $7.9 million US each.

Besides the Falcon 1, Musk's company is developing for NASA a larger launch vehicle, Falcon 9, capable of flying to the international space station when the current space shuttle fleet retires in 2010.

Interest in commercial space flight has risen in recent years since the 2004 success of SpaceShipOne in achieving sub-orbital flight. Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic bought the rights to develop a fleet of spaceships based on SpaceShipOne.

In July, Virgin Galactic rolled out the mothership aircraft of its private space tourism business, designed to launch a passenger spaceship into low-Earth orbit.

Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos's space venture, Blue Origin, is working to launch satellites and passengers into orbit. And id Software founder John Carmack's space company, Armadillo Aerospace, designs and tests rockets.