sjb (09/09/82)
Space Services, Inc., made their first successful launch today, as Conestoga I lifted off from Matagorda, Texas. It was the first time that a privately owned company has launch a rocket. The surplus Minuteman solid motor, bought from NASA for $356K, carried the rocket up to a suborbital flight where it released its payload, 400 pounds of water; both fell into the Gulf of Mexico later, just as planned.