SpaceX Launch Fails To Reach Space

azuredrake and many other readers have written to tell us: "The New York Times reports that the third SpaceX launch has failed following the second-stage ignition of the Falcon 1 rocket. The SpaceX launch had three satellites on board, all of which were presumably destroyed in the incident. This marks the third failed launch for SpaceX — twice they failed to reach orbit, and once the Falcon 1 rocket was lost five minutes after launch. While the company vows to carry on, this certainly raises some questions about the likelihood of successful privatization of the Space industry." Reader Nano2Sol points out a video of the launch from a camera on Falcon 1, and notes a small oscillation just prior to the footage being cut off. Spaceflight Now ran a mission update blog leading up to the failure, and they also have more coverage on the loss of the rocket.

Comments

Re:Scotty's final trip

[pizzutz]

From James Doohan's wikipedia article:

"This article contains information regarding a deceased person who has recently been involved in a launch failure."

That's a new one....

Re:Still, the launch was an awesome surprise.

[CanadianRealist]

"The camera they had on the rocket as it lifted off gave a breathtaking view of the Earth very slowly ascending from it's island launchpad location."

I think I see one big problem right here, if the earth was "ascending", then they were definitely doing something wrong.

Re:One company doesn't succeed at once

[Purity Of Essence]

If Fiat fails, will we call into question the entire automobile industry?

No, you fix it again, Tony.

Re:One company doesn't succeed at once

[terrymr]

This has no government involvement like boeing has no government involvement.