Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas This
Sunday Sept. 9 will mark the 30th anniversary of the first privately-funded rocket into space. And it took place in Texas. Conestoga 1 headed up by
Mercury 7 astronaut Donald Deke Slayton was the product of Houston-based Space Services Inc. of America.
On the morning of Sept. 9 1982 Conestoga 1 soared into the skies over Matagorda Island reaching a height of 160 miles before splashing down as planned in the Gulf of Mexico.
Its Launch drew universal praise including recognition from President Ronald Reagan.
The rocket launched from the ranch of legendary Dallas oilman Toddie Lee Wynne who sadly passed away shortly before the launch.
Texas made a natural fit for the early days of space exploration because the state encompasses the values that
make space travel possible: determination innovation and a drive to accomplish what had never been done before.
Today the dreams of visionaries like Deke Slayton and Toddie Lee Wynne live on in private space enterprises like SpaceX XCOR & Blue Origin.
And with XCOR expanding to Midland Blue Origin in Van Horn and SpaceX already in McGregor and looking at a possible commercial launch site in Brownsville the legend of private space travel in Texas while three decades old is only beginning.
