12-February-2007, 08:06 PM
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Order of Kilopi
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,270
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From Space.com
SpaceX Pushes Second Falcon 1 Rocket Test to Early March
The second test flight of a Falcon 1 rocket built by the private spaceflight firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has shifted to early March due to range safety demands at the company’s island launch site.
SpaceX had previously targeted a mid-February launch date for its second Falcon 1 test mission, but the absence of key range safety personnel will delay the flight to no earlier than March 9, Elon Musk, the El Segundo, California-based firm’s CEO, said written status update.
“We have recently been informed by the Kwajalein Army Range that they do not have sufficient resources to support our launch in mid to late [February],” Musk said in the Thursday update. “Several range personnel critical to the launch safety process will be unavailable in that timeframe.”
SpaceX plans to launch the second Falcon 1 rocket, the first to fly since the booster’s unsuccessful debut last year, from Omelek Island in the west Pacific Ocean [image]. The launch site is sits in the Marshall Islands’ Kwajalein Atoll, where the U.S. Army houses its Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Site.
Initially slated for a late January liftoff, Space X officials opted to push back the planned space shot to mid-February due to concerns over a thrust vector control pitch actuator on the Falcon 1 booster’s second stage. The delay moved the planned space shot beyond its slim two-day January launch window, prompting SpaceX officials to stand down until after a military Minuteman missile test.
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