SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket lights up on its Pacific island launch pad on Tuesday.(SpaceX Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 22(Xinhuanet) -- A budget rocket developed by the founder of Internet financial services firm PayPal blasted off on Tuesday from a remote island in the South Pacific, bolstering hopes of cheaper fares to fly cargo, and eventually people, into space.

    The 68-foot (21-meter) booster rocket called Falcon 1 lifted off at 9:10 p.m. EDT (0110 GMT Wednesday) from Omelek Island on a U.S. military missile test range at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and successfully arrived in space minutes later.

    About five minutes into the flight, a problem cropped up with the booster's second-stage engine, which shut down early due to an unexpected roll, said Space Exploration Technologies chief Elon Musk.    

¡¡ "We feel that is something straightforward to fix," Musk told reporters in a conference call after the flight. "It's definitely a good day."

    The rocket's second stage likely re-entered the atmosphere after less than one orbit of Earth, Musk added.

    The primary goal of the mission was to demonstrate the Falcon's flight capabilities, though the booster carried a pair of engineering experiments into orbit as well.

    The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was the customer for Falcon's flight.

    Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is offering the rocket, as well as an untested heavy-lift booster, for sale at about one-fifth current market rates.

    The rocket was about 90 seconds away from liftoff on Monday when its computers automatically aborted the launch due to a software glitch. The rocket also automatically cut off the first launch attempt on Tuesday due to a low-pressure reading. Technicians were able to fix the problem and make a second attempt an hour later.

¡¡  Despite the glitch during Tuesday's flight, Musk said the next mission for Falcon would be to deliver a military communications satellite to orbit. "We don't anticipate needing any more demonstration flights," he said.

    (Agencies)