Experience the thrill! – 7Mb WMV file of the lift off
Went through a wonderful spate of feelings watching the live coverage of Space Explorations’ attempt to launch their Falcon 1 Space Vehicle -demoflight2. As you may or may not know, Space X was one of the winning contractors to provide private space delivery systems. Unlike government sponsored agencies, such as NASA or the ESA, SpaceX was founded by the chap that made a bit of money selling PayPal to eBay. They have failed on a previous launch attempt after a fuel leak and this subsequent launch went as far as 1:02 when they went into a terminal shutdown procedure.
I got word earlier in the day that they would be making this launch from Kwajalein. After an hour and 3 minutes they have just alerted us that they will make another attempt tomorrow. I can only imagine the disappointment of those closely involved in the programme.
Its quite fascinating listening to the mission coverage. Its different than a NASA launch. There is much more visible (audible) detail in the checks and commentary. One gains a greater appreciation for the complexity of as simple (its designed to be that way) system as Falcon 1. There are a lot more female voices in the launch crew and when the shut down happened, it was as clockwork, with the only frustration evident being some lapses in proper address and completeness of instructions. You started to hear the frustration after a while.
The idea behind the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 (heavier lift system) are to provide a private alternative to NASA’s delivery. The Falcon 1 is a compact vehicle designed to deliver small satellites into LEO. Falcon 9 is much larger and is designed to replace the space shuttle with the ability to ferry people back and forth to the ISS.
Last year the first launch attempt failed when a fuel leak led to an abort in the first minute of flight. They have since been trying to conduct a successful launch nd have emphasized that they are extremely detail focused and are taking as conservative approach as possible to the launch procedures. We await to hear what happened today and see if they can get off the ground tomorrow. The webcast should be available.
Update: 20 March 2007 – 8:14EDT:
Well, 54:02 minutes watching another launch attempt. This one got much more exciting and they were hosing the engine area and it seemed like all was good to go. We went back through a terminal abort with the clock stopped at T+10s. They are back into scramble mode and we await some indication as to whether we are scrubbed for the day. LC has just come back to control to ask for a recycle to T-11m and go for another try today….looking possible. They are polling for opinions. Looks like they are aiming for an open window at
One of the more amusing happenstances is that all mikes remain open (whether they are supposed to be or not I am unaware), but somebody was expressing some thoughts in a rather frank way for a little while when it aborted.
The cameras were also a little more unstable today and were losing picture every 15 seconds. They did switch between cameras more today which was appreciated and after the abort they have been zooming and panning over the lower part of the launch pad. Cool.
Looks like we are going to go for another attempt real fast. They hve emptied and are now in the process of refilling the tanks. Sounds like LC is a little anxious and pushing VC a little much. VC is pretty cool though and doesn’t push back. Sounds quite solid. LC is running through all the steps and seems to stumble a little (certainly I would expect as LC has all the steps to master and everyone else is much more focused this is certainly excusable). I think that we are about 11 minutes from reinititiation of the countdown, but that only by reckoning. They mentioned that there was rain moving in, but hasn’t been mention of that since about T-13 or -14 first time through. It is certainly looking a little greyer in the sky there. It was so pretty nice and blue.
Count has started again at 20:54:00 my time…we are go again. Clock is running. would love to actually have a list of these steps…we are step 110. They all sound good to go to terminal count.
Update: 21:41: WOW! That was sure worth the wait. Launch went swimingly and there was a great camera pointed straight down so you watch the liftoff from a wonderful vantage point. Moisture forms on the lens for a while, but as you clearly change atmospheres it dries out and the shape of the flame grows much wider. Then we reach first stage separation which happens as it should. Huge cheering when that happens. The camera is then pointed right near the second stage engine which glows and glows hotter and hotter, but everything seems to have been running watched for a few minutes and then lost the feed. Don’t think anything bad happened. Will await further news. What a great ride!