Ahhh rats
Baby steps to space. SpaceX first launch goes wrong.
From
Space.com:
SpaceX's Inaugural Falcon 1 Rocket Lost Just After Launch
After years of development and no less than three scrubbed attempts, a solitary rocket Falcon 1 rocket roared toward space Friday only to be lost just after liftoff, its builders said.
The private launch firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched the two-stage Falcon 1 rocket at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT) in a space shot staged from the U.S. military’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean’s Marshall Islands.
But moments after ignition, webcast video from the rocket appeared to show a rolling motion before the feed was lost. Details surrounding possible causes for the rocket’s failure were not immediately available.
"We had a successful liftoff and Falcon made it well clear of the launch pad, but unfortunately the vehicle was lost later in the first stage burn," SpaceX chief Elon Musk said in an update posted to his El Segundo, California-based firm’s website. "More information will be posted once we have had time to analyze the problem."
And they will get this figured out. They already have a few other clients for future launches. Private access to space will be the driving force in the next 20 years or so -- NASA and Big Government Science had its day but it is a dinosaur and needs to be laid to rest.
Posted by DaveH at March 24, 2006 9:31 PM