According to the SpaceX website updates tab:

[I]Posted January 16, 2007

DemoFlight 2 Launch Update

We recently completed our first major pre-launch milestone, the Flight Readiness Review (FRR). This confirmed that all Vehicle, Payload, Ground Support Equipment, and Personnel are ready for launch. Following the FRR, the Falcon 1 was rolled out to the pad and we completed our wet dress rehearsal, which is a full countdown that holds approximately one minute before T-0.

The upgrades to the vehicle, Kwajalein launch facilities and our launch procedures have proven quite effective, and we have had a relatively smooth launch campaign up to this point. A number of non-critical issues arose during the wet-dress and are being resolved, but we have seen nothing to date that should delay our launch schedule.

Going forward, a static fire is planned Thursday, January 18 (California time). We have a launch window on January 21 and 22 (California time) and are working with the range to secure a couple of additional days as contingency. Should we go beyond that, which is still a good possibility as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad, and procedures, the next available launch window is mid February.

There will be a live webcast and a media call in line for the launch. Details will be provided shortly.[\I]

Here's hoping for a good launch!

I hope things continue to progress well for SpaceX

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There we were in the park when suddenly some old lady says I stole her purse..... I chucked the professor at her but she kept coming..... So I had to hit her with this purse I found.
-- Bender

From http://www/spacex.com
Arrrgh! I hate waiting, for things of this nature and magnitude.

They will succeed, eventually (hopefully next week -- probably next week). You can know this because they already have a waiting list of launch manifests -- paying customers (also on their website). Cost-to-orbit at 1/10th the price charged by the aerospace giants is HUGE!

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No wonder about paranoia. If Falcon 1 fail second time, they generally can take their toys and go for more productive and safer things, like electric cars.

And space thingies teach patience. Very, very much patience.

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Sanity is overrated.
Butterfly.

Acutally - the CEO has gone on record saying that funds are available to fail a few times before they would 'give up'

Doug

Now let this be a lesson to everyone who thinks the Apple/Microsoft generation can do better at spaceflight. Musk has spent huge amounts recreating infrastructure--the logistics esp what with the range-safety move.

And all he has to show for it is a Redstone.

I would have gone for Falcon 5--and if one engine shuts down--I have engine out and only the engineers know it.

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.

Why exactly did SpaceX pick Kwajalein? The logistics are expensive (they have to fly in liquid oxygen from Hawaii), and from what I read, salt spray corrosion is awful everywhere on the island: in fact, that article blamed the first test failure directly on that.

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Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

I'm going to make an educated guess: Insurance coverage wasn't cheap near populated areas, and it was cheaper to haul everything out to Kwaj. than to pay the insurance premium for launching closer to home.


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Why exactly did SpaceX pick Kwajalein?

This article explains it.

It boils down to several things:

1. You can launch into any orbit from Kwajalein, equatorial or polar. there aren't too many friendly launch sites where you can do that.

2. They spent millions updating facilities at Vandenberg AFB only to get constantly delayed by military launches and ultimately kicked out.

There are advantages and disadvantages regarding launch operations from Kwajalein, Musk said.

First of all, there are no population centers nearby, making range safety easier and, hopefully, a little cheaper, Musk said. Also, any orbit is achievable from Kwajalein, with being close to the equator an advantage too, he said.

The logistics of transporting equipment and hardware to the island launch locale is the biggest issue the firm is now dealing with in readying the Kwajalein site for Falcon 1 operations.

A downside is high corrosion at Kwajalein, Musk pointed out. “I don’t think there’s a place in the world with more corrosion. It’s the perfect environment of right temperature, humidity and salt spray,” he said, with conditions being combated in ways similar to precautions taken with Florida-based rocket infrastructure.

Contrasted to Vandenberg, Musk said that the Kwajalein work is being done to satisfy one entity, the Environmental Protection Agency. In California, multiple federal agencies had to be engaged, along with state and county entities.

“Although, ultimately, we do satisfy all of them, it just takes a lot of time when there are so many cooks in the kitchen,” Musk explained.

Now scheduled for next week:

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php#de...aunch_update_6


[ x Crossing my fingers x ]

.

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I wouldn't be surprised if some Boeing exec paid the range safety people under the table. Force them overseas, and the logistics bankrupts them.

But its for safety.

Anyone remember that 'anomoly' that rained solid burning hail all over?

Falcon V/9 has engine out--or will.

The BA Blog, SpaceX successfully tests Falcon 1 engine:

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 ...

A further update from SpaceX also gives links to videos of the recent test firings.

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Keeper of the Jabberwock

Latest update:

The flight readiness review conducted tonight shows all systems are go for a launch attempt at 4pm California time (11pm GMT) tomorrow (Monday). The webcast can be seen at spacex.com/webcast.php and will start at T-60 minutes. Please check back for updates, as the launch will be postponed if we have even the tiniest concern.

I wonder if there's such a thing as being too cautious.

7pm EST. Goodie, I'll be home to watch this one.

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

That is tonight midnight at GMT +1, right? I ask this because your DSL started at a different day than ours.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

C'mon c'mon c'mon guys....

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There we were in the park when suddenly some old lady says I stole her purse..... I chucked the professor at her but she kept coming..... So I had to hit her with this purse I found.
-- Bender

So the coverage should start about now?

Edit: I see the coverage. A rocket on the pad at T + 00:00:29. Can anyone provide some interpretation of that?

BTW I love the proximity of the trees and buildings, that aerial pic on their home page really makes the launch site look like a nice level of a computer game.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Watching now, some venting seen, but nothing about a countdown.

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

It was slightly delayed, looks like the new time is 11:45 pm GMT.

That's 0:45 here, it will be a long night

But why do they say T+, shouldn't that be T- according to the way NASA counts down? And what is that 29, seconds or minutes? Given it are the last digits, I assume seconds, which means it is on a final hold?

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Hum,
All systems nominal.
Launch rescheduled to 23:45 GMT

http://spacex.com/webcast.php

Attached Images

tplus.JPG (45.7 KB, 2 views)

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

Clouds appear to be no problem whatsoever. It is a bit windy, but I reckon it is ALWAYS that windy on that location, so they should be fine with that. I don't think weather will be any problem.

Does this launch have any payload, and if so what and for what orbit?

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Hum

Fuel load complete

Pad crew is undercover

Helium topup started...

@Nicolas
The Falcon 1's second stage Kestrel engine should cut off about 10 minutes after launching due east from Omelek Island and place two NASA-sponsored experiment packages and the DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) Demosat (LCT2 / AFSS) payload, into a circular orbit 425 miles high and an inclination of about 9 degrees.

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

OK, so this is a genuine orbital launch, cool. I'm trying to see where this launch is located. So far I have found the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands, but I can't see which island in the atoll it is.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

T-10 minutes

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"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916
our animal welfare board and organisation

T-2 minutes

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"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916
our animal welfare board and organisation

Terminal count abort. Looks like a no go.

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

the clock is halted.

__________________
"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916
our animal welfare board and organisation