The First Falcon 9 Launch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NREJEZ5eluk

by ugh • 16 years ago

125 40 16 years ago

youtube.com

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

Wow that was so close...

I hope they'll get another chance today.

ugh2• 16 years ago

Perhaps we should explain that for all those hitting the link and being confused: The launch was aborted in – literally – the last second. Maybe they can try again today, maybe not.

– edit: They will try again today. Reason for the abort was “an out-of-limit startup parameter.”

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

It looks like they will re-try, the counter was just reset to t-15:00 again, but holding for now.

Apparently no engines actually fired so they're cleared to re-try. Wonder what the cause of the shut-down was, but shut-downs are better than on the pad explosions I guess...

ihodes• 16 years ago

EDIT:

IT LAUNCHED! I can't contain my excitement. That vehicle will transport astronauts to space stations (and beyond?) in the Dragon capsule.

At 11:48, stage separation confirmed, and 2nd stage ignition as well. So, so amazing!

At 11:54, Falcon 9 achieved earth orbit.

The video signal has now been lost (too far away, apparently!)

So, so cool.

--------

From the website:

    It looks as if we may have experienced a shutdown
    condition just after ignition. In these situations the
    vehicle puts itself into “safe mode”. There may be the
    chance to “recycle” the count and try again.

The reason appears to be (as of 10:57)

    We are hearing from Mission Control that the pad abort 
    involved an out-of-limit startup parameter.

It looks like they're going to try it again, but that was from 10:30 Pacific Time. (Edit: they say they are, as of 10:58.)

At 11:26 (PST), a bird flew by… still waiting on "T-zero time from Mission Control."

Retry scheduled for 11:45 (PST)!

Systems checks looking good (11:41 PST).

It's the little kid inside of me, I know, but I want SpaceX to succeed. Their goals have been dreams of mine all my life.

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

Absolutely fantastic news, so much for all the naysayers.

Congratulations to everybody involved in this amazing achievement.

kellishaver3• 16 years ago

That was so awesome. My 8yr old was jumping up and down, cheering. It was just a beautiful launch.

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

I feel like I'm 4 all over again myself and watching the moonshot on our grainy black and white tv...

What a fantastic day this is. History was made today, I know there will be plenty of people to try to diminish the achievement by saying 'we did all this in the 60's', but what matters here is that it is not some government entity doing it, it's a company doing it and where there is one there'll be more.

Space is finally really being opened up, and with a bit of luck the pace will now accelerate.

I'm all for a second space race.

ck22• 16 years ago

Is there a replay somewhere?

I stopped watching it on CNN after the "abort" because I thought that meant for the rest of the day... :-(

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

main article link is now a youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NREJEZ5eluk

MikeCapone• 16 years ago

Don't despair SpaceX fans, it took 4 tries to get Falcon 1 into orbit.

Warning, going to plug my blog

I wrote something about it back when it happened:

http://michaelgr.com/2008/09/30/spacex-falcon-1-rocket-reach...

gfodor• 16 years ago

The audio just announced they have time today for another attempt. Yay.

mikeknoop• 16 years ago

Does the Bitgravity stream have audio?

ugh2• 16 years ago

Yep, it’s just silent most of the time.

timtrueman• 16 years ago

Audio feed of what's going on: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=705

czstrong• 16 years ago

As of 2:30 Eastern the count resumed and is at 14 minutes.

Jasber• 16 years ago

They re-started the countdown timer: "New takeoff time is 2:45 EST"

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

keeping toes and fingers crossed...

kellishaver3• 16 years ago

Ooh, I would have missed this were it not for the delay. Now I can watch.

Also, here's the instruction manual! http://www.spacex.com/Falcon9UsersGuide_2009.pdf

The prospect of real, affordable, commercial spaceflight is very exciting to me. I feel like a little kid again.

mkramlich2• 16 years ago

user guide, nice. hope they have a Python API!

watmough• 16 years ago

The Houston Python users group has some NASA / Constellation guys... I suspect they might have a Python api.

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

Yay! :) :) :)

ErrantX• 16 years ago

There she goes :) I always feel like a little kid watching rocket launches, only now I want to be a Rocket Engineer instead of an Astronaut (ok, as well as).

(on a side note: am I right in thinking the gas venting from the side is pressure release?)

jacquesm8• 16 years ago

Both the first and second stage have venting ports.

enntwo• 16 years ago

It just spun around a bunch and then the feed cut. Is the show over or did something happen?

fhars• 16 years ago

Yes, show is over, the falcon is behind the horizon.

Keyframe• 16 years ago

Awesome news! I wonder if there are viable alternatives to launch against chemical rockets? Also, bitgravity sucks big time, couldn't get a frame from them, let alone a stream.

Zaak• 16 years ago

Nope, there are no currently viable alternatives to chemical rockets. There are possibilities such as nuclear rockets and space elevators which might be viable in the future. A space elevator mainly requires advances in ultra-strong cable materials. A nuclear rocket would require a drastic change in government policies and public attitudes about nuclear technology.

Alex63• 16 years ago

Incredible! It reminded me of watching the Apollo launches when I was a kid. The web video feed was fantastic - amazing to be able to watch the Earth falling away in real-time.

Would be interesting to know if the roll that was occurring as the ship reached orbit was intentional.

JoeAltmaier• 16 years ago

Now I have to rush off and watch a robot a mile below the ocean surface, 50 miles out to sea, attempt a heroic effort to cap a catastrophic oil spill. Ho hum.

stuff4ben• 16 years ago

These are amazing times indeed!

phreeza• 16 years ago

I wonder when Elon Musk will be the richest man alive. Maybe sometime around 2020 if he plays his cards right?

huherto• 16 years ago

But it is more fun to see him do with just a few hundred million what huge corporation couldn't do with a lot more money.

mkramlich2• 16 years ago

I'm investing in asteroid mining now...

blizkreeg• 16 years ago

For my money, Elon Musk is _the_ entrepreneur. Gotta admire this man.

barmstrong• 16 years ago

Love how you can hear a guy in the background: "that's fuckin awesome".

Can you imagine that sneaking into a NASA launch? Love it!!

joshsharp• 16 years ago

That video is painful to watch, I don't suppose anyone has found a better version elsewhere?

pcestrada• 16 years ago

From Wikipedia: "Musk has described himself as a workaholic who routinely puts in 100-hour work weeks, primarily on his businesses Tesla Motors and SpaceX. In his rare free time, he says he plays with his five children"

Guess that's what it takes to reach the stars.

mhansen• 16 years ago

Video without the 'buffering': http://www.spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=51

The First Falcon 9 Launch

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