SpaceX Falcon I Launch III - Build-up Thread

[StuffOfInterest]

GW, is that delayed from the June 23/24 date?

[Chris Bergin]

Elon told me they expect to conduct the first countdown in late June to July.

First stage and second stage are (now) on island.

Flight 4 of the F1 planned for September (Malaysian satellite) and that vehicle will be finished and on its way to Kwaj in late July.

[William Graham]

GW, is that delayed from the June 23/24 date?

As far as I know, yes.

[anik]

http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm

"SpaceX Falcon-1 from the Reagan Test Site
Omelek Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands
June 29, 2008 at about 7:00 pm PDT"

[mwfair]

http://twitter.com/NanoSail_D

  sounds like the payload folks are hoping for 6/28, though they don't distinguish NET from their actual excitement. 
  It does explain that the stages had trouble with mating. 
  How is the Falcon 1 shipped, in pieces?

[mwfair]

also from http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm

Information updated 20Jun08 10:30UT
PRESAT and NANOSAIL LAUNCH  (more details below)
SpaceX Falcon-1 from the Reagan Test Site
Omelek Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands
June 29, 2008 at about 7:00 pm PDT (new date).

[William Graham]

That's 02:00 GMT on 30 June. Interesting to note that the CubeSat assignments seem to have changed again.

[Zond]

According to this blog the launch has slipped by a month.

So Friday morning we got on the plane bright and early for Kwajalein. After a stop in Majuro and some complication with a lack of paperwork *cough cough* we made it to Kwaj. We proceeded through security where the dogs sniffed our bags, and we had our ID’s issued to us. Upon exiting the building we were greeted by a man from NASA. This man provided us with some rather unwelcome news. The launch date had slipped by a month minimum an hour prior to our arrival in Kwaj.

[Chris-A]

Could this be a rumor, or just bad news...
The blog noted a "crack". Could be a bad welded, or structural.

Sea water strikes again?

Very nice powerpoint from COMSATC in May.
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/industry/advisory_committee/meeting_news/media/2008-05/Hughes.ppt

[jabe]

Could this be a rumor, or just bad news...

Looks like bad news..also noted at nanosail twitter page
dam..ah well..lets hope it is solved quickly

jb

[William Graham]

Both the Nanosail and Presat project pages suggest that the primary payload has changed to PnPsat.

[Comga]

According to this blog the launch has slipped by a month.

Pardon me, but who is "KMBSAR" doing this blog?  I did not recognize any of the names on the SHOT attendance list, or in the list of first names in his blog about Oahu.  The combination of grad student talk and a first class ticket to Hawaii is interesting.

How is it that someone from NASA can announce that the launch is postponed by a month?  NASA is not the customer, nor it is their range.

Very interesting PowerPoint file.  It says that it was created by Gwynne (Shotwell?) in March for the FAA.  It projects some additional significant delays.   After dropping the calendar quarters from the SpaceX launch manifest, this file posts specific months for the COTS launches.  It says that they have met ten COTS milestones, which should bring their COTS funding to $156M with another $22M projected for this month (June).

[yinzer]

Isn't the blog written by Kimball (Kimbal?) Musk, Elon's brother?  Explains the grad student + first class ticket to Hawaii, at least.

[Chris-A]

Isn't the blog written by Kimball (Kimbal?) Musk, Elon's brother?  Explains the grad student + first class ticket to Hawaii, at least.

No it is not. Kimbal has two blogs: http://kimbal.typepad.com and http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com

I'm guessing he is a student with one of the payload projects.

[Comga]

"Isn't the blog written by Kimbal"

I agree with Chris-A.  It does not appear to be Kimbal, and it is a student associated with one of the projects, probably PRESAT http://www.crestnrp.org/presat/index.html .  The image of the payload says PRESAT (ARC) and his blog has a photo of him setting up his antenna dish infront of the iconic blimp hangars at ARC. That blog says that he is an undergraduate, about a year into engineering school, and an EMT.  Lot's of details about his life and family and travels, but nothing useful for our discussion.

[jabe]

According to this blog the launch has slipped by a month.

mmm..interesting..checking the blog and the nanosat link and they are both changed. (blog no longer exists!!) I wonder if too much info was released..  Lets hope the "rumours" were wrong.
jb
edit: well this answers when the launch will be..well sort of when it will be..looks like a month or so delay.. I wonder how much "spinnage" this is.

[Comga]

...(blog no longer exists!!) I wonder if too much info was released..

Hope I didn't contribute to KMBSAR getting in trouble.  Seems like a nice young guy, the kind we want to encourage. 
Too bad these small windows into the launch seem to have been closed.

[aero313]

this answers when the launch will be..well sort of when it will be..looks like a month or so delay.. I wonder how much "spinnage" this is.

What a surprise!  It's the range's fault again.  Kind of makes you wonder how anyone else ever gets anything off the pad...

[dunderwood]

What a surprise!  It's the range's fault again.  Kind of makes you wonder how anyone else ever gets anything off the pad...

Seems a little premature to assume SpaceX will lay all the blame on the range.  Have you heard something we haven't?

[StuffOfInterest]

SpaceX pushes back target date for next Falcon 1 launch

"The military informed SpaceX last week that mandatory support equipment and tracking stations in the Pacific Ocean are booked through the end of July, forcing officials to delay launch of the next Falcon 1 rocket, the company's founder said Friday."