Rocketeers.co.uk - a British view of commercial spaceflight

I'm pleased to see that SpaceX is pitching towards European orbital microgravity researchers by holding its Second DragonLab User Conference in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Will there be any delegates from the UK? I hope so. I expect not.

Congratulations to Elon Musk and the SpaceX team for the successful launch of the RazakSAT remote sensing satellite aboard Falcon 1 Flight 5.

Playing catch-up after Easter vacation...

This isn't British, or particularly new, but I thought it was cool. If there's any space event I want to see happen in the next decade, it's this.

From the old-news department: Some interesting videos on Space.co.uk taken at the 2008 International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow:-

• Max Vozoff of SpaceX talks about recent developments at the company
• Dr Stuart Eves of SSTL gives an overview of the MoonLITE project
• Richard Varvill of Reaction Engines discusses the SABRE engine and Skylon project
• Richard Osborne of Reaction Engines talks about Project STERN, developing an Expansion-Deflection nozzle

A selection of news items from the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow:

• Space Congress: Orbiting Glasgow -- BBC News
• IAC 2008: Day One to come -- Hyperbola
• IAC 2008: VIDEO - SpaceShipTwo to do science research for US government -- Hyperbola
• IAC 2008: Watch this exclusive Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn interview -- Hyperbola
• IAC 2008: VIDEO - Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn takes questions -- Hyperbola
• IAC 2008: VIDEO - SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight Four UK press conference -- Hyperbola

Heartiest congratulations to SpaceX on the successful launch of their Falcon 1 smallsat launcher, the first privately-developed liquid-fuelled launcher to reach orbit. The revolution starts here!

Embedded above is the full 40-minute SpaceX webcast of the launch, from the introductory information segments, to well after SECO, and Elon Musk's comments on the successful launch.

Never give up, Elon. Never surrender.

Oh, and BEST. QUOTE. EVAR.

Hyperbola has some items from the recent talk by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, at the Royal Aeronautical Society:-

• AUDIO: CEO Elon Musk SpaceX Q&A session
• Musk: $80 million to go to the Moon

The Lunar Dragon idea came up in a comment I made to Jon Goff back in 2006. Nice to see that it's getting some serious thought ;-)