Purty

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

Separation successful!!

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

2+ minutes and still rising.

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

The video works for me. Very beautiful first stage separation!!!

All systems nominal

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Telemetry lost?

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Lost the feed, anyway.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

spaceflight now reporting telemetry lost

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

At T+plus 5 minutes Telemetry was lost...

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Anyone else getting a video feed? It was at T+4:55 when I lost it. The second stage nozzel was glowing red and there seemed to be some oscillations (perhaps 5 to 10 degrees), then nothing. Last year, they shut down the video feed when the first stage engine failed. I hope this isn't anything more than server overload.

I noticed the same thing. Seemed to be really gimballing around when the video cut off

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

Perhaps that was supposed to happen...

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

From spaceflight now:

The last bit of video seen from a camera mounted on the second stage showed perhaps some oscillations just before SpaceX said telemetry had been lost and the webcast feed was cut.

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

So... blowed up, I bet.

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Sanity is overrated.
Butterfly.

Losing telemetry is not a good sign.

They are claiming success

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

Hum,
seems there was a problem with the second stage engine burn, which is why it was gimballing around

<added>They are claiming that a success?</added>

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

This is worse joke than blob's "hoax accusation".

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Sanity is overrated.
Butterfly.

From Spaceflight

0122 GMT (9:22 p.m. EDT Tues.)

"I just wanted everybody to know that we in the Washington, D.C., office are celebrating with champagne. We don't have any information yet from the launch control center, but the Falcon clearly got to space with a successful liftoff, stage separation, second stage ignition and fairing separation," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.

However, what happened during the second stage burn is not clear.

Well, under the old X-Prize rules, it certainly did reach space. The first stage appreared to function properly. They did have a clean staging and payload fairing separation. Those oscillations were troubling. It's possible the rocket continued to function (but perhaps not likely). I guess the only way to know for sure is if some radar manages to track the payload in orbit. They launched south, so unless there's some ship-based radar out there that I don't know about, I'd guess the first space surveillance radar that might be able to see it would either be the Cobra Dane at Shemya or perhaps PARCS in North Dakota. I don't think the Kaena Point radar could see it through the whole launch sequence but I may be wrong.

I think it's successful depending on what the problem on the 2nd stage turns out to be. It's certainly more successful then last years test flight.

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

The feed claimed that the first stage belonged to SpaceX. Who is claiming the Kestral engine in the second stage?

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

Those DAPRA people are up to something....

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

The feed claimed that the first stage belonged to SpaceX. Who is claiming the Kestral engine in the second stage?

The Krestral is a SpaceX engine.

From SpaceX:

A single SpaceX Kestrel engine powers the Falcon 1 upper stage. A highly reliable and proven TEA-TEB pyrophoric system is used to provide multiple restart capability on the upper stage.

Helium pressurization is again provided by composite over wrapped inconel tanks from Arde. However, in this case the helium is also used in cold gas thrusters for attitude control and propellant settling when a restart is needed.


Hmmm. With that oscillation, they might've been going through a lot of attitude control helium. It's possible they ran out. I seem to recall a Titan failure some years ago due to running out of steering fluid on the SRBs. Perhaps it was the camera, but the nozzle color didn't look consistent. I hope there wasn't a burn through.

It seems the launch was a failure, but there is a possibility that something made it into orbit...

<added>a nozzle burn through seems quite plausible</added>

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Looks like I was wrong about the orbit. From SpaceFlight Now:

The fate of the rocket is not known. The second stage was supposed to fire until almost T+plus 10 minutes to reach the planned orbit featuring a high point of 425 miles, a low point of 205 miles and inclination of 9 degrees north and south of the equator.

That's a pretty low inclination for most of the Space Surveillance Network sensors. Kaena Point may well have been able to track the launch. After that, perhaps (but unlikely) Beale and Eglin. Ascention in the Atlantic could probably get it if tasked.

Odds are it didn't achieve orbit, though.

Oh, that was a Delta III (Aug 27, 1998) that ran out of SRB steering fluid, not a Titan. Memory can be a funny thing.

from Musk's news conference:
Well, they did almost get there. Definitely appears that Musk considers this launch to be successful enough that he is willing to press on. Hopefully the problem with the second stage was merely a glitch and not a profound engineering problem with the engine.

For those rocket scientists on this board: I would assume that the red color to the nozzle would indicate an uneven exhaust that would cause a sideways push to the payload. What could cause this?

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

.

not a success but clearly a progress from the 1st launch ...however, I think that the luckiest day for the third attempt is October 4, 2007

.

hum,

i`m saying nothing.....

Attached Images

	falconT-2.jpg (23.1 KB, 10 views)
	FalconT+4.55.jpg (34.9 KB, 16 views)

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Sorry for being so uninformed, but was this a fundamental first in any way?
First commercial company building a rocket that makes it to "space" (higher than 100km)?
Thanks

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Life is unfair. But that's ok.. as long as you make sure it's unfair in your favour. -Me

You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot. -Denny Crane

I never make predictions, and I never will. -some footballer

Hum,
they certainly have captured peoples imaginations.
Perhaps they are destined to build the B ark.

Read more

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...