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Space Science

SpaceX announces new Falcon 1 launch date 16

Posted by Hemos from the trying-to-make-it-this-year dept.
mj_1903 writes "In an extremely frank and open post, SpaceX has announced that the maiden flight of their totally private spacecraft will be held no earlier than the 20th of December. They also outline the mistakes that kept them on the ground including leaving a small valve open that allowed precious liquid oxygen to boil off and the difficulties in getting oxidiser to a remote site. More coverage at Spaceflight Now."
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SpaceX announces new Falcon 1 launch date More

SpaceX announces new Falcon 1 launch date

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  • One thing to be said for private flights... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PurifyYourMind ( 776223 ) on Monday December 12, 2005 @09:30AM (#14237857) Homepage
    ...is that they probably don't have the enormous amounts of red tape that NASA projects have to wade through. It's incredible how delayed and expensive NASA's projects get because they spend so much time trying to achieve perfect safety these days. Looking our for your astronauts is laudable, but they're just going too far lately. This last manned shuttle flight... what was it, like two years extra they spent trying to avoid another foam problem... and they had one anyway? Of course, NASA is dealing with millions of funding people (you and I, taxpayers) keeping tabs on them via the news outlets, so maybe the private endevours would fall under the same kind of scrutiny if they ever became super popular.
    • so maybe the private endevours would fall under the same kind of scrutiny if they ever became super popular.

      SpaceX should face no such "scrutiny", except from shareholders. We fund NASA, therefore it's accountable to us. SpaceX is a private venture, and as long as it's only lofting cargo payloads it should be fairly immune to public scrutiny.

      (Note that if there are launch failures, SpaceX will likely die quickly.)

      • Re:One thing to be said for private flights... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by subterfuge ( 668314 ) on Monday December 12, 2005 @10:02AM (#14238039)
        fairly immune to public scrutiny

        while I have been waiting most of my life to see private space ventures get off the ground [no pun intended] I fear that we will see rapid and oppressive over-regulation within seconds of the first pieces of a failed launch showering down on 'The Children' [TM].

        • I fear that we will see rapid and oppressive over-regulation within seconds of the first pieces of a failed launch showering down on 'The Children' [TM].

          Since the first flight is from the Marshall Islands, such children will a) have to be floating around on the South Pacific and b) have to ignore the range warnings.

          Some flights will be from Vandenberg, and will also fly over the Pacific.

          Note that SpaceX already operates under the rules for unmanned launch safety, and there have been numerous launch fa

          • While they are currently flying from the Kwajalein (sp?) and Vandenberg, they have some pretty ambitious plans for expansion. They have hinted at a desire to eventually launch manned capsules, although that is obviously a long ways off. Also, consider if they won a contract to launch a nuclear powered probe. NASA gets enough flak as is with Boeing and Lockheed handling those. I can imagine the whining if NASA trusts a "young upstart company operating on greedy, for-profit principles that has no experience i
          • such children will a) have to be floating around on the South Pacific and b) have to ignore the range warnings.

            So, we have to keep Our Children [Patent Pending] off most of the planet's surface ? If this thing is going into orbit then what 'range' do we have to avoid? I support private space ventures, I really do. I just don't think our society is ready for it and someone IS going to get sued. Sad, but likely true.
            • So, we have to keep Our Children [Patent Pending] off most of the planet's surface ?

              Not at all.

              If this thing is going into orbit then what 'range' do we have to avoid?

              Um, the same range you have to avoid right now with the current generation vehicles? lol

              I'll repeat a point from my first post - if SpaceX can't meet its (very ambitious) reliability goals, it won't be a success.

              (BTW if your question was serious, generally the range to avoid is a few tens-hundreds of miles directly downrange. Once th

            • "I just don't think our society is ready for it and someone IS going to get sued. Sad, but likely true."

              So very very sad, and so very very true.

      • so maybe the private endevours would fall under the same kind of scrutiny if they ever became super popular.

        SpaceX should face no such "scrutiny", except from shareholders.

        Ummm ... someone better scrutinize them. At a bare minimum they'll have to answer to the FAA/equivelant in most places -- they still need to take off through controlled airspaces.

        Do you really want people lobbing what are effectively missiles without someone holding them accountable and mandating a minimum standard? Not to mention ho

    • There is a HUGE difference between launching people and not. I guarantee you that if this first flight was a manned mission, they would spend just as much effort on the safety issues. For what it is worth, the unmanned rockets (Deltas, etc.) get launched much more frequently and much quicker than shuttles for that very reason, so you should be comparing the cost benefits of the Falcon to the comparable non-manned rockets presently in use.

    • One thing to be said for private flights... is that they probably don't have the enormous amounts of red tape that NASA projects have to wade through. It's incredible how delayed and expensive NASA's projects get

      The first flight of Falcon I has already been delayed over a year. Delays for private flights are common - indeed 90% of all such flights have been delayed indefinitely, because they got to be too expensive. (I.E. the company ran out of money.)

  • How about... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by cniemira ( 558347 )
    no earlier than the 20th of December.

    How about a "no later than" date?

    • They have backed away from setting hard dates because they would rather push it back to cover any problems that can arise than rush into it and make a big fireball. Also, they are once again waiting on the Air Force to give them another launch window.

      Personally, I was encouraged by the straightforward nature of the letter and apparently confident diagnosis of the 2 problems they encountered during last month's countdown.
    • My understanding is that they have a luanch window from the 19th (end of missile defense tests) to the 21st (beginnning of holiday shut-down). I know that you were probably referring to delays due to malfunctions, but obviously, that is impossible to say - just like asking what the latest ship date for Duke Nuke-Em forever is :)
    • How about when it is ready?
      Really this IS ROCKET SCIENCE! If you make a mistake things go boom and lots of time and money are wasted.

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