Launching a Truck Into Space 142
clamps are released and the rocket can fly away.^288
To avoid the risk of getting loose nuts in the engines,
SpaceX minimized the number of parts in each rocket.
“They’ve designed a solution, but it’s not a good solution,
because it’s got several hundred parts,” Elon said about an
early design of a propellant tank. “If any of those pieces
shake loose, they’ll get stuck and choke the engine. And
that will really suck.”^71
SpaceX designed Falcon 1 to deliver a payload of 1 000
kg into low Earth orbit, which is the space below an altitude
of 1 200 miles [2 000 km] and above 99 miles [160 km].
The rocket could also deliver a lighter payload beyond low
Earth orbit into cislunar space, which is the space between
the Earth and the Moon. Cislunar is Latin for “on this side
of the moon” but also “not beyond the moon.” Beyond the
cislunar space is the translunar space.280,380Launching a
rocket to low Earth orbit is the most common altitude. It’s
where the International Space Station circulates at a height
of 250 miles [400 km], and it’s where the majority of the
satellites are.
Like a new car, SpaceX unveiled the Falcon 1 just
outside of the National Air and Space Museum in Wash-
ington DC. SpaceX brought the entire seven-story high
rocket together with its mobile launch system. This was
in December 2003, so the event coincided with the first
flight of the first aircraft, which flew for the first time
in December 1903. Falcon 1’s maiden voyage should have