Published by mwallis September 29th, 2008
in History and News.
Number four seems to have done the job for SpaceX as their fourth Falcon 1 launch attempt was a success and became the first privately developed space launch vehicle to reach orbit.
The data showed they achieved a super precise orbit insertion — middle of the bullseye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake.
The next Falcon 1 launch will carry RazakSat into orbit for Malaysia in Dec or Jan of 2009.
If that launch is successful, the larger Falcon 9 rocket will take flight Cape Canaveral, FL for the first time sometime in Q2 2009.
Video after the break.
Continue reading ‘“Fourth time’s a charm” For SpaceX’
Published by mwallis August 20th, 2008
in Minutes.
| Attending: |
Dave Weinshenker,
Dan Solvin,
Gerald Nordley,
Julie Porter,
and
Stellan Lagerstrom.
|
| Call to order: |
Dave W called the meeting to order at 20:05 |
Continue reading ‘General Meeting #330′
Published by mwallis August 7th, 2008
in News.
SpaceX launched their third Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Island over the weekend. Hoping to build on their two previous test flights, they carried customer payloads this time … but a longer thrust decay transient of our new Merlin 1C regeneratively cooled engine (by 1.5 seconds!) seems to have produced a small thrust that was just enough to overcome the stage separation pusher impulse.
They plan to put flight four on the launch pad as soon as next month, having integrated, rolled out and launched in seven days. They are confident that they know and understand what happened and can easily work around it.
Published by mwallis July 31st, 2008
in News.
Here’s video of the Rocket Racing League demo flight at AirVenture 08 (the Oshkosh, WI Experimental Aviation Association annual gathering).
Continue reading ‘Rocket Racing Demo Flight’
