Small update from the Orlando Sentinel this morning. Looks like Wednesday is out: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-spacex-launch-advancer-20101206,0,1049791.storyQuoteSpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said that If the nozzle had to be replaced, the launch could slip to Friday or Saturday.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said that If the nozzle had to be replaced, the launch could slip to Friday or Saturday.
It is clear they are the political favorite at this time due to the desire of the WH and NASA to promote "commercialization of space". Don't kid yourself.
1) Political favoritism, 2) low transparency on the part of SpaceX, 3) pressure on the Range to make exceptions for SpaceX which are not granted to EELV or Shuttle, 4) FAA waiver for Europe flyover, 5) increased funding - during hard times in Washington
...and then Discovery was heard to say to Falcon 9:"My cracks are bigger than your cracks."
Quote from: Swatch on 12/07/2010 01:37 pmIt sounds like you're working under the assumption that the damage was a preexisting condition that simply wasn't caught. What would your opinion on the matter be if the damage had developed after integration with the vehicle? In that situation, it seems their process caught it at exactly the right time. I don't believe they've released information that implies one situation over the other, so I'm just playing devil's advocate.Still a process failure. 1. The damage occurred2. the incident that caused the damage wasn't caught right away or still is unknown.
It sounds like you're working under the assumption that the damage was a preexisting condition that simply wasn't caught. What would your opinion on the matter be if the damage had developed after integration with the vehicle? In that situation, it seems their process caught it at exactly the right time. I don't believe they've released information that implies one situation over the other, so I'm just playing devil's advocate.
Quote: "It is clear they are the political favorite at this time due to the desire of the WH and NASA to promote "commercialization of space". Don't kid yourself."Is this a surprise/secret to anybody? Why would the WH/NASA not want F9 and Taurus II to succeed, after choosing to go this route? Because they'd rather keep flying to ISS on Aeroflot? They're putting they're money on SpaceX and Orbital, so of course they want them to succeed.
Quote from: KSC Engineer on 12/07/2010 04:43 pmIt is clear they are the political favorite at this time due to the desire of the WH and NASA to promote "commercialization of space". Don't kid yourself.Oh, please.Quote from: KSC Engineer on 12/07/2010 01:42 am1) Political favoritism, 2) low transparency on the part of SpaceX, 3) pressure on the Range to make exceptions for SpaceX which are not granted to EELV or Shuttle, 4) FAA waiver for Europe flyover, 5) increased funding - during hard times in Washington 1) What favoritism? The fact Obama visited SLC-40 instead of SLC-41 where an Atlas was sitting with a military payload? I don't exactly see either LockMart, Boeing, ULA, Orbital being locked out of any "commercial" crew program.2) Low transparency on what? Did you actually watch the press conference, specifically NASA managers' comments on this topic? Or do you expect they're obliged to tell outside people *everything*? Were they not forthcoming with telling us what the current issue is? You want actual images of the cracks?3) What pressure? Are you talking about the 15 minute extension granted by the Range the other day? You think the Range guys wouldn't do the same for ULA or NASA, but would rather close up shop at 3 PM sharp because, hey, it's their end of day?4) I think nblackwell already made the point here.5) What increased funding?Anyone can see things they want to see. The question is are they really there?
This whole "SpaceX has bad processes" allegation sounds like unsupported government NASA-managese.
First, for a process to be "good," it has to be iterated and repeated over the long term. Because the second F9 flight is delayed, hardly qualifies as when you determine your processes are "broken," or bad.
You sound naïve.