On this day in space! Sept. 9, 1982: The 1st private rocket, called Conestoga 1, launches from a Texas cattle ranch

在太空的这一天!1982 年 9 月 9 日：第一枚名为 Conestoga 1 的私人火箭从德克萨斯州的一个养牛场发射

On Sept. 9, 1982, the first private rocket launched from a Texas cattle ranch.

1982年9月9日，第一枚私人火箭从德克萨斯州的一个养牛场发射升空。

The Conestoga 1 rocket was designed by Space Services Inc. of America (SSIA) and built from spare parts of other rockets. It was named after a type of covered wagon that used to transport American settlers westward to the new frontier during the 19th century.

Conestoga 1号火箭由美国太空服务公司（SSIA）设计，并由其他火箭的备用部件制造。它是以一种19世纪用于运送美国定居者向西部新边疆进发的一种有篷马车命名的。

The 36-foot rocket lifted off from a private launch facility on Matagorda Island, Texas and flew for 10-and-a-half minutes. It reached an altitude of 195 miles and became the first privately funded rocket to reach space.

这枚36英尺高的火箭从德克萨斯州马塔戈达岛的一个私人发射设施发射升空，飞行了10分半钟。它达到了195英里的高度，成为第一枚进入太空的私人资助火箭。

The only payload on board was 40 gallons of water, which didn't serve much scientific purpose, but it was ejected from the spacecraft at peak altitude to serve as a visual marker so ground crews could watch.

船上唯一的有效载荷是40加仑的水，它没有太大的科学用途，但在达到最高高度时，水被从航天器中排出，作为视觉标记，以便地面人员可以观测。

Private rocket launches may seem routine today (SpaceX alone launches hundreds each year), spaceflight in 1982 was primarily the purview of government agencies like NASA, the U.S. military and other national agencies.

如今，私人火箭发射可能看起来已是例行公事 (仅SpaceX每年就发射数百枚)，但在1982年，航天飞行主要是美国国家航空航天局，美国军方和其他国家机构等政府机构的职权范围。

That changed with the launch of Conestoga 1 by SSIA. The company, led at the time by legendary Mercury 7 and Apollo-Soyuz astronaut Deke Slayton, and entreneurs Charles Chafer and David Hannah, Jr., was based in Houston and raised $6 million from 57 supporters to develop their rocket, according to Wired. The company initially tried to launch a different type of rocket, called Percheron, in 1981, but it exploded on the pad, according to an account by Inc. magazine.

随着SSIA发射Conestoga 1，这种情况得到了改变。该公司当时由传奇的水星7号和阿波罗-联盟号宇航员Deke Slayton以及entreneurs Charles Chafer和David Hannah，Jr. 领导，总部位于休斯敦。据《连线》报道，该公司从57名支持者那里筹集了600万美元来开发他们的火箭。据《公司》杂志报道，该公司最初试图发射在1981年发射一枚名为Percheron的不同类型的火箭，但它在发射台上爆炸了。

SSIA found success three years later with Conestoga 1, a solid-fueled rocket based on an old Minuteman missile second stage (which Wired said SSIA bought from NASA for $365,000). It launched on its suborbital mission from Matagordo Island, Texas, which is about 170 miles (274 km) north of what is now Starbase, Texas, home to SpaceX's Starship megarocket launches.

三年后，SSIA凭借Conestoga 1取得了成功，Conestoga 1是一枚固体燃料火箭，基于旧的“民兵”导弹第二级改装而成 (据《连线》杂志报道，SSIA以36.5万美元的价格从NASA购得)。它从德克萨斯州的Matagordo岛发射升空，执行亚轨道任务。该岛位于现德克萨斯州“星舰基地”以北约170英里 (274千米) 处，是SpaceX的星舰巨型火箭发射的所在地。

SSIA would go on to launch another suborbital sounding rocket carrying science experiments in 1989. The company attempted to launch a larger Conestoga rocket (Conestoga 1620), which included additional strap-on boosters, in October 1995 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, but it failed 46 seconds after liftoff, according to NASA.

SSIA随后于1989年发射了另一枚携带科学实验的亚轨道探空火箭。据NASA称，该公司曾尝试于1995年10月从位于弗吉尼亚州沃洛普斯岛的NASA沃洛普斯飞行设施发射一枚更大的Conestoga火箭，该火箭含额外的捆绑式助推器，但在升空46秒后失败。

Today, SSIA's subsidiary Celestis, a space funeral company, now offers memorial flights by arranging to fly human cremains into space on commercial spaceflights. (SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets have carried some such payloads. Another branch offers informal star naming services.

如今，SSIA的子公司Celestis---一家太空葬礼公司---通过安排在商业太空飞行中将人类的骨灰送入太空，从而提供纪念飞行服务。(SpaceX的Falcon 9火箭曾搭载过此类的有效载荷。另一个分支机构提供非正式的恒星命名服务。

But the legacy of Conestega 1 lives on today in a robust commercial space launch industry that has seen a number of private companies enter the space marketplace. SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites have even built and flown private astronauts on suborbital (and orbital in SpaceX's case) missions. SpaceX, meanwhile, has built and launched the largest private rocket on Earth, the Starship and Super Heavy booster. It stands over 400 feet tall, is more powerful than NASA's mighty Saturn V moon rocket, and is designed to be fully reusable to allow missions to Earth orbit, the moon and Mars.

但是，Conestega 1的遗产今天仍然延续，这体现在一个已经看到许多私营公司进入太空市场的蓬勃发展的商业航天发射行业中。SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic和Scaled Composites甚至已经建造并试飞了私人宇航员进行的亚轨道（以及Space X案例中的轨道）任务。与此同时，SpaceX已经建造并发射了地球上最大的私人火箭---星舰和超重型助推器。它高逾400英尺，比NASA强大的土星五号登月火箭还强大，并且被设计为完全可重复使用，以允许执行前往地球轨道、月球以及火星的任务。

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

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