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Falcon 1 Launch Delayed Until 2006
An anonymous reader writes "Florida Today is reporting that SpaceX will have to wait until 2006 to launch their Falcon 1 rocket that was scheduled for today. Engineers called off the launch when they noticed structural problems with the first-stage tanks. From the article: 'The Falcon 1 was to be launched from the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kawajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Its payload: an $800,000 space research satellite that was built by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.'"
I think his customers probably understand the delays are willing to sympathise with him to a point. Look at his customer manifest on the spacex website if you're curious. For the most part, it's government launches, because DARPA is interested in opening up more launcher options, so they're willing to risk a few lower priority projects trying out a "new product". I'm sure if it weren't for SpaceX, the cadet's satellite would be piggybacked onto a larger satellite for a lot less money. The cubesat doesn't even come close to the Falcon's payload capacity. On the commercial side, the noteworthy customer is Bigelow with his prototype Spacehab modules. As an aerospace startup like Musk, he's probably facing a lot of challenges similar in scale, but I'll bet he views their similarities as making them great partners in their respective projects. If I remember right, he already switched his first launch from the Falcon V to another rocket due to the projected schedule, but is planning to get his second module launched on a Falcon IX.