Falcon I in orbit!!

IT WAS AWESOME. GJ SPACEX MAKING HISTORY! THE WORLD WAS WATCHING AND SUPPORTING!

Posted by Andre Mestre at 09/28/08 16:28:25

Wonderful........

Posted by Manofmars at 09/28/08 16:30:52

Best space news in the united states in years..,....

Posted by Manofmars at 09/28/08 16:31:38

Congratulations to Elon and team. The revolution starts here! :-)

Posted by Stellvia at 09/28/08 16:33:04

Now all SpaceX has to do:

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

This is an amazing accomplishment.... way to go SpaceX!

Posted by Robert Horning at 09/28/08 16:34:50

Congratulations! Well deserved.

Does anyone have any details on recovering the first stage from this launch? They're going to go for it right?

Posted by Habitat Hermit at 09/28/08 16:38:04

I already heard people griping about Pegasus being first. Elon has a lot of work ahead of him yet.

Posted by Pete Zaitcev at 09/28/08 16:40:30

w00t!

Posted by Neil H. at 09/28/08 16:40:32

Congratulations!!!

To Elon and all his employees: Well done! A fantastic launch!

With 50 entrepreneurs like that, that would cancel out the 700bn stuff and put back the US in good shape.

That is just absolutely brillant. Fourth time is the charm :-)

...I couldn't breath at stage separation time... and the loss of signal at the end... They definitely know how to build the suspense/tension!

Great job, hope they have some well deserved fun tonight!

Posted by Mikaël at 09/28/08 16:54:35

"I already heard people griping about Pegasus being first. Elon has a lot of work ahead of him yet."

I've seen similar comments. Those people need to learn to listen better as it was mentioned that the Falcon was the first liquid fueled private rocket to reach orbit, not the absolute first private rocket to reach orbit. Can't wait to see if the next launch is a success.

Posted by CZZ777 at 09/28/08 17:00:12

Wow, after seeing China put men into space (and feeling slightly jealous) I think this is the first time I feel as if the US has a chance in this upcoming space race.

Hopefully we will have more of these--not to mention a manned mission as well.

Posted by Darnell Clayton at 09/28/08 17:17:37

I saw the webcast live and agree with Clark. It was wonderfully boring! Here's hoping for more equally boring launches!

Posted by Rick Boozer at 09/28/08 17:21:36

SpaceX still has a lot of work to do: The second stage was definitely wobbling at the end, and the interstage whacked the second stage nozzle during seperation. Compare that to the classic Saturn V second seperation video, where you see the interstage falling away almost perfectly.

But it was great to see. If they get Dragon up soon enough, Ares will get retargeted as a Moon-only vehicle, until SpaceX demos a Falcon 9 heavy, at which point Ares will get quietly canned.

Posted by Iain McClatchie at 09/28/08 18:02:45

Iain--

I watched the video over and over, and re-ran the separation and end sequence repeatedly. I saw no evidence the interstage "whacked" the kestral nozzle, nor did the second stage look anything other than rock solid before SECO.

Are you looking at the right video? Sounds like you're viewing the second flight video, where you did get the "whack" and "wobbling" effect.

The only possibly off-nominal things I saw were some debris peeling off of the second stage after separation and some apparent combustion artifacts-- little "puffs" or "farts" of smoke and flame at odd intervals during the second stage burn. Otherwise, smooth as silk.

This is really a tremendous achievement any way you look at it. To launch a rocket designed and built nozzle up by the same firm, with no government assistance (aside from the COTS money) is really astonishing. Elon Musk is Lindberg, Goddard and Howard Hughes all rolled into one!

Posted by David S. Michaels at 09/28/08 20:10:31

the peeling "debris" falling off the nozzle was a spacer that is designed to come off after separation. I believe the rest was ice; there was a good bit of that blowing around in the camera pod.

Posted by Jesse at 09/28/08 21:30:18

there are stability issues in the first and
second stage. the first stage is clocking
and the second stage has a wobble.

the injection accuracy is probably low.

and did the kestrel restart and circularize
the orbit or did it blow gas and
reenter once around.

Posted by anon at 09/28/08 21:51:18

<<here are stability issues in the first and second stage. the first stage is clocking and the second stage has a wobble.>>

I'm not an engineer, but by "clocking" I assume you mean the tendency of the first stage to shift back and forth around its vertical axis. Yes, you can observe some of that, but it seems to be quite a bit less than on the second and third flights.

<<the injection accuracy is probably low.>>

Not according to Elon Musk, who said it was a very precise injection, in the middle of a bull's eye.

<<and did the kestrel restart and circularize
the orbit or did it blow gas and
reenter once around.>>

Again, not according to Musk.

I must say, I'm a bit surprised by the sniping, sneering tone of some of the posts I've read. Are these by Lockmart engineers, maybe, who sense they may start loosing business to this upstart, and therefor must denigrate the achievement?

Posted by David S. Michaels at 09/28/08 22:43:11

SpaceX persevered - and by doing so has opened an alternate future with access to space resources and energy. Congratulations!

Posted by Paradox Olbers in 2ndLife at 09/28/08 23:03:21

I also thought I was viewing a video or the current launch, when it showed the Kestrel nozzle getting "whacked" and the nozzle proceeding to wobble until an LOS. Given all the news I previously heard of a successful orbital insertion, I assumed then that the Falcon had made it despite itself.

However, after viewing the outstanding U-Tube video that this site included, I now believe I (and apparently some of the others) had unadvertently watched a Flt#2 video on the SpaceX site that was mistakenly labelled as #4. In reality, Flt 4 was beautifully nominal & I hope they were able to locate and recover the first stage.
Bravo Elon, to you and your Team!

Posted by BC at 09/29/08 05:49:44

Great news. Here's to dancing on the bones of the first three flights.

Posted by Adam Greenwood at 09/29/08 05:52:23

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