Updated: SpaceX Falcon 1 Suffers Anomaly During Launch

At 11:36 pm EDT August 2, 2008 the Falcon 1 lost contact with the base in Hawthorn, California.  After aborting the first launch at .5 seconds, the counter was reset to 11 minutes and launch countdown was reinitiated.  At T-minus one minute, cheers could be heard from the staff as the Falcon 1 finally blasted off.Unfortunately after T+140s when the vehicle switched to inertial guidance mode at an altitude of 35 km, all contact was lost.  Staff at SpaceX stated that an anomaly occurred and immediately cut feed to the webcast.SpaceX, in the running to help assist NASA if or when funding runs out, designed the Falcon 1 with the minimal number of engines.  As a result, there is only one engine per stage and an automatic safe shut-down and unloading of propellant occurs if any "off nominal conditions are detected."  The Falcon 1 was carrying the Trailblazer, two CubeSats (one of which was NASA's NanoSail-D) for the Air Force and MDA and unfortunately, also carried the remains of astronaut Gordon Cooper and the actor James Doohan from Star Trek.In the case that this rocket is non-recoverable there are two additional Rocket 1s available for launch.Update at 12:42 am EDT - Kimbal Musk, the brother of the CEO of SpaceX has written that that rocket has been lost.  After contacting Mr. Musk he was unable to officially confirm this information but states that his brother, Elon Musk, will be releasing a press release shortly.Update at 1:01 am EDT - SpaceX is reporting that the booster on the rocket did not separate correctly.  Diane Murphy, the SpaceX vice president of marketing and communications released the following statement tonight:"It was obviously a big disappoint not to reach orbit on this Flight 003 of the Falcon 1. On the plus side, the flight of our first stage with the new Merlin 1C regenerative engine that will be used in Falcon 9 was picture-perfect. Unfortunately, a problem occurred at stage separation causing the stages to be held together. This is under investigation." Read full story...

 


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