page_title: Conestoga (rocket)
section_title: Conestoga I
hierarchical_section_title: Conestoga (rocket) / Conestoga I
caption_attribution_description: English: The first commercial rocket launch. The Conestega I out of Matagorda Island. Texas, USA.
context_page_description: The Conestoga was a launch vehicle design funded by Space Services Inc. of America of Houston, Texas. Conestoga originally consisted of surplus LGM-30 Minuteman stages with additional strap-on boosters, as required for larger payloads. It was the world's first privately funded commercial rocket, but was launched only three times before the program was shut down.
context_section_description: SSIA founder David Hannah then hired Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. Slayton had just left NASA after running the Space Shuttle Landing and Approach validation testing (among earlier roles). SSIA purchased an Aries research rocket from Space Vector, Inc. which was developed for the U.S. Navy and NASA using the second stage of the Minuteman missile. The first launch of the new Conestoga I design took place on 9 Sep 1982, consisting of the core missile stage and a 500 kg dummy payload which included 40 gallons of water. The payload was successfully ejected at 313 km, and the Conestoga I became the first privately funded rocket to reach space.
  SSIA launched a second rocket in 1989, providing commercial support for microgravity experiments, using the Black Brant sounding rocket which they referred to as Starfire.
caption: The Conestoga I prepared for launch.
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