Written by Derek Kessler on
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Once is chance. Twice could be construed as poor planning. But three times in a row? SpaceX’s latest attempt to launch the privately funded Falcon 1 rocket ended in failure again. The two stage rocket failed to separate as designed about two minutes and twenty seconds after lift-off from the US Army Reagan Test Site on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll, which is about 4000 km (2500 miles) southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
SpaceX chairman and CEO Elon Musk expressed his disappointment over the failure of the August 3rd launch via a short statement read to reporters by the company’s vice president of marketing and communications, Diane Murphy. SpaceX is investigated the cause of the launch failure, which was determined to be excess thrust from the first stage causing it to continue upward after separation and impact with the accelerating second stage. Testing on the ground had revealed negligible thrust from the first stage after engine shut down, but the air pressure at the high altitude amplified the otherwise minimum residual thrust.
The Falcon 1 rocket was carrying a Pentagon microsatellite called Trailblazer and two miniature NASA satellites.
Musk was confident that with some minor modifications a fourth launch attempt could be made as early as September. He said, “For my part, I will never give up, and I mean never.”
Once is chance. Twice could be construed as poor planning. But three times in a row? SpaceX’s latest attempt to launch the privately funded Falcon 1 rocket ended in failure again. The two stage rocket failed to separate as designed about two minutes and twenty seconds after lift-off from the US Army Reagan Test Site on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll, which is about 4000 km (2500 miles) southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
