Window Open Through August 5
ANN REALTIME REPORTING 08.02.08 2300
EDT: "T-Minus Zero... ABORT." It came down to the final
moments, but SpaceX has aborted the planned launch of its third
Falcon I mission.
Mission control is currently assessing the reason for the launch
abort. ANN will provide more details as they become available.
Original Report
1830 EDT: After a 16-month hiatus, Space
Exploration Technologies plans to try again and launch its Falcon 1
rocket sometime Saturday evening.
The launch window for the Falcon 1 FLight 3 mission will open at
1600 PDT/ 1900 EDT, and remain open for five hours. If launch is
delayed for any reason, SpaceX has range availability to resume
countdown through August 5.
Lift-off of the vehicle will occur from SpaceX's Falcon 1 launch
site at the Kwajalein Atoll, about 2500 miles southwest of Hawaii.
Falcon 1 launch facilities are situated on Omelek Island, part of
the Reagan Test Site (RTS) at United States Army Kwajalein Atoll
(USAKA) in the Central Pacific.
Designed from the ground up by SpaceX at headquarters in
Hawthorne, CA, Falcon 1 is a two-stage, liquid oxygen and
rocket-grade kerosene powered launch vehicle. The first stage is
powered by a single SpaceX Merlin 1C Regenerative engine flying for
the first time on this Flight 3 mission. A hold before liftoff
system enhances reliability by permitting all systems to be
verified as functioning nominally before launch is initiated. The
Falcon 1 second stage is powered by a single SpaceX Kestrel
engine.
Falcon 1 is the first new orbital rocket in more than a
decade... and has yet to complete a 100% percent successful
mission. After a fuel leak doomed the first launch at T+29 seconds
in March 2006, the company's second launch attempt one year later
was nominal through the firing of the Falcon's second-stage. A
progressive oscillation began in the later stages of the burn,
however, which led the second stage engine to stop burning just
short of orbital altitude.
Hopefully, for the company, third time will be the charm. Upon
its achieving orbit, Falcon 1 will be the first privately
developed, liquid fuel rocket ever to orbit the Earth.
The primary customers for the Falcon 1 launch are the Department
of Defense, the Malaysian Government, and NASA. Falcon 1 is
carrying a payload stack of three separating satellites that will
orbit at an inclination of 9 degrees.