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SpaceX Launches Falcon 1
ron_ivi writes "SpaceX has successfully launched it's first Falcon 1 rocket from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean today carrying a satellite for U.S. Air Force Academy that was originally scheduled to fly on the Space Shuttle Atlantis."
The SpaceX Falcon 1 has not launched as of 4:08 p.m. EST. In fact, it's on hold for an hour. Somebody jumped the gun with the story. You can follow live coverage at SpaceFlight Now or Space.com
Can be found at Wikipedia.
There's an image of the Falcon 1 launch site. Let's hope this prospect is as promising as SpaceX's last endeavour.
Is linking to a page about a launch which hasn't happened yet, in a language that most slashdotters can't even read, some kind of sick prank? In any case, as of now (0018 GMT, 4:18 PM PST), the launch has been delayed a couple of times today. The first delay was due to overcast skies (they were afraid of possibly generating a lightning strike with the rocket plumes), and the current delays are due to problems with their liquid oxygen fuel boiling off during the first delay.
Here are some good sources of up-to-the-minute coverage:
* Spaceflight Now's Falcon 1 Mission Status Center
* Liveblogging by Out of the Cradle
* Liveblogging by space reporter Michael Belfiore
* SpaceX's official launch info (good info, but not updated as often as other sources)
They just got an extension on their launch window, and are still hoping to launch today (5pm PST at last report).
I've been eagerly awaiting this launch for the past couple of years. If it succeeds, it's going to change everything. Although their first rocket is relatively small, they're already working on much larger successors, all at a selling price which is a small fraction of their competitors'. Drastically cutting launch costs, increasing the launch rate, and enhancing space accessibility is crucial to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's long-term goal: helping humanity become a spacefaring civilization.
If it doesn't succeed, well, Musk has stated that he can afford up to three consecutive launch failures before calling it quits.
The following have some more background info on what Elon Musk is trying to achieve with SpaceX:
* Hopes of Start-Up Rocket Company Are Riding on First Launch (LA Times)
* SpaceX wikipedia article
* Big Plans for SpaceX (The Space Review, discusses plans for human spaceflight and building world's largest rocket engine)
* Shooting the Moon (Discover Magazine)
*
An addendum to my earlier comment... it turns out that the brother of the SpaceX CEO is liveblogging from mission control:
http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/
At the moment, the LOX tanks have been filled, and they're on hold at T-minus 10 minutes while they refill Helium tanks and so forth. His blog has a number of photographs taken on the Pacific island they're launching from.