Fourth time's a charm
Sep. 29th, 2008 12:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerSpaceX are having a fourth attempt to launch the Falcon 1 rocket to orbit; this attempt comes only eight weeks after the last flight so it seem clear that Elon Musk et al think the problem last time was simple to fix. Of course, that doesn't preclude another problem coming up. Launch coverage webcast and blog available.
EDIT: Blimey, it looks like it worked! I was a bit worried around first-stage separation when it looked like there was quite a large attitude divergence but the second stage recovered nicely and (apart from a disconcerting loss of signal for about thirty seconds some 8 minutes in) it was a smooth ride to second-stage cut-off. All that needs to be confirmed now is that the upper stage and dummy payload are in the proper orbit. But it does look good so far.
EDIT: Blimey, it looks like it worked! I was a bit worried around first-stage separation when it looked like there was quite a large attitude divergence but the second stage recovered nicely and (apart from a disconcerting loss of signal for about thirty seconds some 8 minutes in) it was a smooth ride to second-stage cut-off. All that needs to be confirmed now is that the upper stage and dummy payload are in the proper orbit. But it does look good so far.
