Killahbyte

After one aborted countdown, a privately developed rocket that could take on many of the jobs now done by NASA's space shuttles reached orbit successfully on its first test flight Friday.

The launch marked a significant advance for California-based SpaceX's eight-year-old space program.

Liftoff came after hours of delay, sparked initially by launch-pad telemetry problems, then by a sailboat that strayed into a restricted area of the launch range. The day's first countdown was aborted at virtually the last second, due to an alert about one of the engine igniters. The launch software was quickly adjusted for a second countdown that went all the way to zero.

Cheers could be heard in the background as SpaceX broadcast a live webcast of the ascent, including stunning rocket-cam views from orbit. Toward the end of the 10-minute ascent, the camera view appeared to show the spacecraft rolling. But SpaceX said it reached orbit — which was the key measure of success.

"All in all, this has been a good day for SpaceX," launch commentator Robyn Ringuette said from the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.

Later in the day, the company's millionaire founder, Elon Musk, told reporters that the Falcon 9 hit a "near bull's-eye," which made Friday "one of the greatest days of my life."

This time around, the Falcon 9 carried a mere mockup of its Dragon capsule into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. But if the company succeeds in its development effort, future Falcons and Dragons could be carrying cargo to the International Space Station next year, and flying astronauts into orbit by 2013.

With the shuttle fleet due for retirement within the next year or so, NASA is counting on private-sector launch providers to provide transport services to the space station, so that the space agency can concentrate on more ambitious trips beyond Earth orbit.

SpaceX and the Falcon 9 have become closely linked with President Barack Obama's revised space policy, which calls for the cancellation of NASA's own Ares 1 rocket development effort. Obama visited the SpaceX launch pad and chatted with Musk just before announcing the policy shift at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in April.

In the wake of that announcement, members of Congress and space luminaries such as Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, criticized Obama's policy and said companies such as SpaceX couldn't be relied upon to deliver on their promises. Retired Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, complained that such companies "don't know what they don't know."