A lot has already been said about the Falcon 1 launch earlier this week, so rather than recap and reanalyze the launch from a technical standpoint, I’ll make this observation. It was initially a little surprising to hear that SpaceX people were celebrating, having champagne toasts, and, in general, calling the flight mostly a success. After all, their rocket had failed to reach orbit, the one factor that counts in a launch. In the most binary sense, this was a failed launch: being 90-95% successful is no consolation to the customer whose satellite failed to make orbit.
Of course, though, this wasn’t a satellite launch but rather a test flight, where that 90-95% success is actually meaningful, something I (and others) explained in a news@nature.com article published today. It’s still a little odd to hear people celebrating a success even as the second stage lost roll control, but in any case the launch is a significant step forward in SpaceX’s long-term efforts to develop launch vehicles and spacecraft capable of eventually carrying people into orbit.
Elon Musk, Rocket Man…
The Economist has published a piece on the man behind the SpaceX, Elon Musk, a.k.a. Rocket Man. In a recent test his craft, the Falcon, failed to achieve orbit, but Personal SpaceFlight characterized the mishap as perhaps the happiest launch…
Anybody else notice that they’ve slipped their next launch from Q1 2008 to Q2 2008?
Inside story?