Space Exploration Technologies, the company created by PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, recently launched a rocket that stalled before reaching its goal of orbiting the Earth. Here are some other highlights in the history of private space flight:
1956: Tom Hanks is born
1959: In Yosemite, a local outlaw gets so riled up by an irrepressible rabbit that he leaps into the stratosphere, accelerated by low body mass and downward-firing six-shooters
1975: Space Mountain opens in Orlando, FL
1979: Two Ohio men go missing after building a large-scale copy of one of those red plastic water rockets and pumping it 200 times
1995: Colorado sells its rockets to private citizens to pay for a new stadium
2001: 9-year-old Jenny Steven’s parents confirm that her recently deceased dog is floating up in space watching over her
2002: Lance Bass fails in his bid to be the second homosexual in space
2004: Sir Richard Branson spends an entire week breaking in the space suit he plans to wear on his first trip to the moon
