LIVE: Falcon 9 Flight 1 Maiden Flight - June 4, 2010

[yg1968]

I posted an MP3 file of the last half hour of the SpaceX Post-launch teleconference, here:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18936.msg601200#msg601200

P.S. I missed the first half hour.

[Avron]

Chris and team .. once again awesome coverage!!!


Thanks so much..

[jabe]

]No. There wasn't supposed to be a second firing on this flight.

Worth waiting till the dust settles on that

it has been close to tw0 orbits since launch so we should know soon..
come on Elon..stop drinking that margarita and let us in on what you know
jb

[Robotbeat]

I may have missed it but did the second stage refire to raise perigee?

No. There wasn't supposed to be a second firing on this flight.

Worth waiting till the dust settles on that

True.

I didn't notice the "SECO 1".

But good enough, really. As long as they get good data on it and can pinpoint the problem, then it won't be an issue. They never did a full vacuum test, remember.

BTW, what was all that liquid that I saw during second-stage start?

[savuporo]

BTW, what was all that liquid that I saw during second-stage start?

Symbolic perspiration on behalf of launch crew ?

[mmeijeri]

The second stage treating itself to an early margarita? That would explain the roll control problem...

[corrodedNut]

I think that was coming off/out of the umbilical plate. Notice the corresponding round hole in the interstage.

[edkyle99]

"Musk says he's in initial discussions with NASA on development of "super heavy lift" vehicle." - Jeff Foust

This would probably be in response to the recent MSFC HLLV BAA.  All of the other big players in launch will likely respond to the BAA to also be in on those "discussions".

 - Ed Kyle

[Robotbeat]

The second stage treating itself to an early margarita? That would explain the roll control problem...

LOL!
 

[dad2059]

Belated congrats to Elon and his SpaceX team in beating the odds and pulling off a gang-buster! 

And congrats to Chris and Co. for their great coverage as usual, especially with the balky video feeds. I checked out YouTube and their video is only slightly better.

One must remember this is important for the American aerospace industry too, Falcon 9's engines are the first indigenous models made in over a decade I believe. And you can bet the Pentagon was paying attention along with the White House!

Like Jim said, NASA just got a replacement for the Delta II.

[SpacexULA]

Not really. A company with 20 people who test the engines compares to Obama's plan to kill HSF which will destroy thousands of jobs in Houston.

SpaceX can't kill SDLV or Shuttle, it can only do it to itself.  SpaceX will have to greatly increase it's workforce to move out of testing and into production.  She should be supporting both sides with equal vigor.

[Jim]

And you can bet the Pentagon was paying attention

Not really, they are stuck with EELV's

[Avron]

And you can bet the Pentagon was paying attention

Not really, they are stuck with EELV's

Eh.. Jim check back with the Judge, what some 4 years back when Spacex lodged the compliant .. I am sure we will hear more // at the time the Judge said, spacex do not have a LV .. now maybe they are in  the race.. ..

[thomson]

Congratulations on this awesome launch.
F9 is has now 100% success rate, regardless of how one defines success

[rcoppola]

And you can bet the Pentagon was paying attention

Not really, they are stuck with EELV's

With a 600b budget, DOD isn't stuck with anything they don't want to be stuck with. So who knows what the future will bring.

[johng]

Watched from Schwartz rd lmost directly west of the pad. About as close as anyone.  The afternoon lighting was good from this angle, and the sound of that slow climbout was shaking my clothes at least as much as a shuttle launch.

I'll post any good pics that might come out.

[mdo]

Space-Track elements imply 235 x 276 km x 34.5 deg. International Designation 2010-026A. Way to go, SpaceX!

That is more than 1% difference from 250km circular. So who is right?

On an energy basis, the error is 2.2%, ignoring inclination error.

The semi-major axis is also the equivalent circular radius, which also is the simple average of the perigee and apogee. So

(235+276)/2 = 255.5

(255.5-250) / 250 = 0.022 = 2.2%

The semi-major axis goes through the center of the Earth (250+6378 km).

The error is therefore <<1 %,  both in distance and energy terms.

[rcoppola]

Question: Could the f9 including Merlin 1c be scaled up to become a super hlv. 8-10m first stage with Merlins heading towrads an F1 size?

[Lars_J]

Question: Could the f9 including Merlin 1c be scaled up to become a super hlv. 8-10m first stage with Merlins heading towrads an F1 size?

The F9 (or F9H) is probably at the limit of what you want to launch with a Merlin 1c class engine. To go bigger, you need bigger engines - and SpaceX is most likely already at work on a "Merlin 2" engine.

[MP99]

Very pleased to see that the first flight went so well.  I expected it, considering their experience with Falcon 1, but there's always the worry that some crucial detail has been overlooked...

You know, I expected they had a fair chance of a good launch, but the tension as they approached MECO2...

Then to see them nail separation & SECO, man the relief! I think I'd been "hoping for the best but fearing the worst".

They've had some issues, but they seem to have been fixable issues. I was desperately hoping that SpaceX would set expectations that "this is a first launch, don't expect it to be perfect", and thankfully they did in the last couple of days. Awesome test.



Question: do any of the issue-ettes during this launch suggest a delay to F9 flight 2?

Suggestions of failure in the roll control during u/s operation...

The roll off the pad - the videos I've seen so far seem to me to be a rotation on it's axis rather than a translation towards the pad structure. Nevertheless, I can see how this might be worrisome...

Anything else...

BTW, I have no problem if there is a delay. I'm stoked that things went so well, just amazingly stoked. Did I mention that I'm really...

It seems they should have gained the maximum telemetry that they might have hoped for. Should be a really solid basis to improve things for the second flight. Just wondering if any of the issues look like they'll either require major fixes/rebuilds to flight 2 hardware which is already built, or major rewrites of software?

cheers, Martin