Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral

[Star Voyager]

The Falcon 9 rocket is now poised for its March 22 liftoff. This will be the inaugural flight of the Falcon 9, taking place aton the former Titan pad LC-40 at 11:00 a.m. EST:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100220rollout/

 

[Ark]

Is that the Dragon dummy at the left side of the picture? A lot bigger than I thought it was, those CGI promo pictures don't do a very good job providing scale.

 

[clickypens]

AWESOME! Can't wait to see this puppy fly. It'll be a new day in the space age if it can be a commercially viable way to put things/people into orbit.

 

[jinglesassy]

so is this a test flight or will it put something in orbit?

 

[Zatnikitelman]

It'll put a demonstration unit of Dragon into orbit. They'll be checking out Dragon's systems before doing simulated approaches to the station hopefully this year. From what I can tell, this may be not be much more than just a non-filled Dragon capsule, but we probably won't know exactly what's going up until the day of launch.

 

[jinglesassy]

Ok so basically it will put a apollo 6 like mission into orbit for testing? That makes sense thanks zat

 

[anemazoso]

It'll put a demonstration unit of Dragon into orbit. They'll be checking out Dragon's systems before doing simulated approaches to the station hopefully this year. From what I can tell, this may be not be much more than just a non-filled Dragon capsule, but we probably won't know exactly what's going up until the day of launch.

Dragon is stuffed with monitoring/test equipment for the rocket. The dragon will stay attached to the second stage as well. I don't think the Dragon is being evaluated on this flight except for weight simulation and aerodynamics during launch.

 

[Hielor]

Given that this is a SpaceX rocket, I think the only real question is: At which point in the flight will it explode? :shifty:

 

[Artlav]

Given that this is a SpaceX rocket, I think the only real question is: At which point in the flight will it explode? :shifty:

Hopefully, at the point where it hit the ground re-entering a few years later.

 

[anemazoso]

Given that this is a SpaceX rocket, I think the only real question is: At which point in the flight will it explode? :shifty:

Hater

Though I think it will fail in some way. Might not blow up but something will go wrong. I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[Star Voyager]

Some newly released photos of her at LC-40:

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100221rollout/

 

[Urwumpe]

Some newly released photos of her at LC-40:

http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/100221rollout/

Good to see something happening there again.

I doubt it will explode this time. The second launch will fail. :lol:
(In case somebody has doubts. This is another of my fortune cookie predictions)

 

[anemazoso]

This one is a beauty!

 

[barcode]

So it will either be a resounding success, paving the way for commercial access to the International Space Station, or it will blow itself to smithereens.

Either way, we're in for a hell of a show.

 

[Chupacabra]

Is there any video footage of the first flight? Is that the one that everyone keeps talking about exploding? The other flights seemed to have had technical glitches, but certainly not a Kaboom.

Anyone else hoping to see if they recover the first stage this time?

 

[Urwumpe]

The other flights seemed to have had technical glitches, but certainly not a Kaboom.

Yeah, just a tiny technical glitch:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-lyoPP3go"]YouTube- SpaceX Falcon 1 Launch Failure[/ame]

 

[Chupacabra]

Ahh there it is. I kept looking for "Falcon 1 Flight 1" considering that the other videos went by a similar naming scheme. Thanks Urwumpe:thankyou:

That said, I'd be pretty excited if they pull this one off!

 

[Sky Captain]

Can`t wait to see it fly. Whatever happens during launch it will be spectacular.

 

[francisdrake]

I would not write the Falcon off, even if it fails on this launch. When looking back into the 1950s and early 1960s a lot of rockets failed, and most of them far more spectacular than the failed starts of the Falcon 1. And not to forget the failed Ariane V inaugural flight, not so long ago.

One of the most reliable western launchers was (or actually is, as 3 rockets are left) the Delta II. And this was based on the Thor booster, as far as I remember, which was actually developed by the Airforce as an intercontinental missile. I am sure nobody published failed tests of theis booster, as they were kept a military secret.

My impression is the SpaceX team is highly motivated and very professional. To me it seems critical to support them financially during the development of their launchers, despite possible failures in the beginning.

 

[Ark]

I would not write the Falcon off, even if it fails on this launch. When looking back into the 1950s and early 1960s a lot of rockets failed, and most of them far more spectacular than the failed starts of the Falcon 1. And not to forget the failed Ariane V inaugural flight, not so long ago.

I try to put SpaceX's failures in this context. I've seen enough three-minute comedic montages of early NASA efforts blowing up to know that test launch failures are nothing new. That's why we conduct test launches. And SpaceX's failures-until-orbit-achieved rate still outscores NASA. :lol: