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SpaceX hopes third time will be the charm |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Saturday, 24 May 2008
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 Despite having proclaimed prior to the 2006 maiden flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket that they would give it three tries, and if it didn’t work, they’d call it quites, Space Exploration Technologies president and founder Elon Musk says that he regrets having said that. Even if this third launch attempt fails, Musk and SpaceX will continue the drive to a successful commercial launch platform.
The March 2006 launch attempt lift off with a small experimental satellite built by cadets at the US Air Force Academy. The rocket’s main engine failed after 29 seconds and caught fire, destroying the satellite and obviously not making it into orbit. In March 2007, SpaceX tried again and the second Falcon 1 successfully launched without a payload, only to shut down about 90 seconds earlier than planned, resulting in the rocket again not reaching orbit.
The third of the $6 million rockets is planned to launch in late June. The rocket’s first stage is already in place at SpaceX’s private launch complex, located on the Pacific island of Kwajalein Atoll. The second stage is projected to arrive in a few weeks.
Despite having a record of 0-2, SpaceX has a backlog of 12 launches through 2011, and has added new customers even since its 2007 launch failure. SpaceX has also secured a new launch services agreement with NASA worth up to $1 billion. Even with the impressive customers list for what currently amounts to an unsuccessful rocket manufacturer, Musk says that he is still only 85-90% confident that this third launch will be entirely successful.
The upcoming launch will carry a payload for the Pentagon, either an Air Force Research Laboratory satellite named Jumpstart, or the Trailblazer satellite developed jointly by SpaceDev, the US Air Force, and Cornell University. SpaceX won’t be informed of the Pentagon’s final payload decision until about two weeks before launch in the last week of June. Musk refused to give an exact launch date, saying, “At the end of the day we are not going to rush this flight.”
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