Falcon 1 Launch: December 19 at 11 a.m. PST (7 p.m. GMT)

[mikejz]

Holding at T-15 Min due to winds

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Depends on it, when close over the pad it indeed will create a big crater. But it is being launched from a small atoll in the middle of a very very large ocean. Which means that it will create a large splash and a little bit of ocean contamination, but nothing serious<br /><br /><br />Unless off course your fishing overthere.....

 

[mikejz]

Ah, i bet the average boat sinking realised far more containation.

 

[mlorrey]

1845 GMT (1:45 p.m. EST)<br /><br />T-minus 15 minutes. The audio link between the SpaceX-hosted news media line and the launch site has been lost. We're awaiting further information on the countdown. <br />

 

[shoogerbrugge]

off course,<br /><br />remember the Mir is also swimming among the fishes in those waters somewhere.<br /><br />But again, the media coverage of SpaceX is poor, kinda disappointing. They can hire a C-17 to get some LOX, but no proper information connection for the media....

 

[mlorrey]

Well, since it launches over water, it essentially is going to make a splash, not a crater. The thrust termination system should be sophisticated enough so they can decide when to cut off thrust to control reasonably well which particular empty piece of ocean it hits. Any impact should be strong enough to rupture the structure and trigger an automatic hypergolic fireball that consumes most, if not all, volatiles...

 

[mlorrey]

1900 GMT (2:00 p.m. EST)<br /><br />Today's launch window is now open. However, the countdown has been stopped due to the strong winds at the launch site. <br /><br />1854 GMT (1:54 p.m. EST)<br /><br />T-minus 15 minutes and holding. The countdown has gone into a hold of some sort, presumably due to the weather. <br /><br />

 

[mlorrey]

In watching these events unfold, however remotely, I am reminded of the spy thriller, "The IPCRESS Affair", which had a few chapters occuring on one of the islands in this very atoll... in those days, these islands were used for atom bomb tests....

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Does somebody have a clue about the limitations/ or maximum condintions of the Falcon I<br /><br />Because the winds don't seem to be that extreme, <br /><br />"<i>Gwynne Shotwell, the SpaceX vice president of business development (says). "The winds were very low this morning. So we were hoping to not have weather issues.</i><br /><br />And can't wind be compensated by vectoring thrust?

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"...off course..."</font><br /><br />Shoogerbrugge, it's OF course, with ONE "f".<br /><br />Normally I wouldn't bother about a little typo, but seeing the words "off course" during a rocket launch is VERY disturbing!!!<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mikejz]

Its 24 Kts, the limit is to keep the rocket from being blown into the launch tower on liftoff.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

now don't start blaiming me if the thing really goes off course. It wasn't me <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[mikejz]

Abort

 

[mlorrey]

I would also like to post a little criticism of the lack of video coverage. Back in the olden days of space flight, when it was an enterprise engaged in by nations locked in an ideological and propaganda struggle for superiority and hegemony over a miniscule planet, you could tell who were the good guys and who were the bad guys by who broadcast the live coverage, by radio or television, into homes around the world, and who waited to see if the rocket blew up, in order to save propaganda face and minimize damage to the regieme...<br /><br />I would expect that a gung ho entrepreneur like Elon would be of the first variety, and let the chips fall where they may. If any lawyer had a hand in the decision not to live broadcast (or, worse yet, any stock underwriter), they should be strung up on the spot.

 

[cretan126]

A 24 knot wind limitation? That doesn't sound very 'responsive' to me. Anybody who has every spent any time around Vandenberg AFB will realize that will be a real liability when - or if - they ever try to launch there.

 

[mikejz]

Mission Aborted: details unknown.

 

[robotical]

Where did you hear that? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mikejz]

http://kwajrockets.blogspot.com/<br /><br />(Rumor of the wind possibily breaking something on NSF)

 

[mlorrey]

They need to learn to lean that tower into the wind, give it some of that "Yankee windage", and just let er fly...

 

[nibb31]

Wouldn't launching from Vandenberg without launch range safety charges also be a liability?

 

[nacnud]

I don't think so, flights from Vandenberg head out to sea as well.

 

[mikkelrj]

No confirmation on the mission abort has been made yet, spacex will update the launch status soon. (<5min)

 

[nacnud]

Scrub untill next year, some sort of sctuctural failure on the first stage <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[mikkelrj]

Launch aborted, next launch will be early next year <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[shoogerbrugge]

sounds crude, but I just won a bet.......<br /><br /><br />