THE FALCON FLIES! 

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Powered by 10 engines and the vision of an Internet entrepreneur, an untried Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Friday and successfully boosted a dummy payload into orbit on a maiden voyage intended to help pave the way for commercial missions to the International Space Station.

In a major milestone for the commercial launch industry, the two-stage Falcon 9's nine first-stage Merlin engines, fueled by liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene rocket fuel, roared to life at 2:45 p.m. EDT.

The first Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

(Credit: Ben Cooper/Spaceflight Now)

After computer checks to verify engine performance, four hydraulic hold-down clamps pulled away and the 157-foot-tall Falcon 9, riding atop a torrent of orange flame, climbed away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Liftoff came 3 hours and 45 minutes into a four-hour launch window because of tests conducted on the rocket's self-destruct system, a sailboat in the off-shore danger zone, and a last-second abort because of a higher-than-expected pressure reading with one of the engines.

Engineers with the Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, recycled the countdown to the T-minus 15-minute mark and decided to try again after concluding the engine was in good shape. This time, the countdown proceeded to zero without incident.

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