SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch, June 4, 2010

[shuttle_guy]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

From Florida TODAY newspaper:

Falcon 9 Destruct System Test Clears The Way For Launch Friday
SpaceX completed a crucial test of its Falcon 9 rocket destruct system Tuesday, clearing the way for the first flight of the new launch vehicle on Friday.

The 180-foot rocket will be rolled out of its assembly hangar Wednesday and erected at Launch Complex 40. The Falcon 9 is is slated to blast off during a window that will open at 11 a.m. and close at 3 p.m. Friday. Air Force meteorologists say there is a 60 percent chance the weather will be good enough to go.

SpaceX and contractor Ensign-Bickford Aerospace have been working with the Air Force to qualify the Falcon 9 Flight Termination System for launch. The system comprises a series of small pyrotechnic devices that would be used to deliberately destroy the rocket by radio command if it veered off course and threatened populated areas.

SpaceX officials said the company completed a critical end-to-end test of the system that is required by the Air Force. The Air Force 45th Space Wing provides tracking, range safety and weather forecasting services for all launches from the Cape Canaveral air base and nearby Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX has booked both Friday and Saturday as potential launch dates on the Air Force Eastern Range.
posted by Todd Halvorson at 10:30 PM

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Webcast page link.


Posted June 01, 2010

This page will host the live webcast of first test flight of Falcon 9. The launch window for the first Falcon 9 test launch attempt is now scheduled for:

Friday 4 June 2010

Launch Window Opens: 11:00 AM Eastern / 8:00 AM Pacific / 1500 UTC

Launch window lasts 4 hours.

SpaceX will provide a live webcast of the launch events, presently scheduled to begin 20 minutes prior to the opening of the launch window.

Webcast Start: 10:40 AM Eastern / 7:40 AM Pacific / 1440 UTC

SpaceX has also reserved a second launch day on Saturday 5 June, with the same hours.


Dates and times are subject to change, so check here where we will post any updates to this schedule.


In the meantime, the window above should be showing you an audio/video test loop to help confirm your system settings.

 

[mr_mark]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Falcon 9 has been rolled out and is about to go verticle. I've waited for this day so long and it's finally here! Can't wait for the launch in a few days.

 

[docm]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Flight patch posted @ SpaceFlightNow....

>
On Wednesday, SpaceX rolled the Falcon 9 rocket to the launch pad after finishing up tests of the rocket's destruct package, a make-or-break part the Air Force would use to terminate the flight if it veered from its planned trajectory.

Pulled by an aircraft tug, the rocket and its mobile transporter moved 600 feet from the hangar to pad 40. Hydraulic pistons engaged to push the massive assembly upright atop the launch pad before 3 p.m. EDT.

 

[docm]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Reuters is reporting that the USAF has given final clearance for F9 flt 1

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6525JX20100603

SpaceX cleared to fly new rocket from Florida

Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL
Thu Jun 3, 2010 3:59pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL Florida (Reuters) - Privately funded Space Exploration Technologies, the company operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, received final clearance from the U.S. Air Force on Thursday for its debut rocket launch from Florida.

The company known as SpaceX is set to launch its Falcon 9 rocket between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (1500 and 1900 GMT) on Friday from its newly refurbished launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just south of the Kennedy Space Center.

Musk, who moonlights as chairman and chief executive of electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, put the odds of a successful flight at around 75 percent.

"I think we're probably three-quarters likely to succeed. I hope that fate favors us tomorrow," Musk said on a conference call with reporters.
>

 

[docm]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Getting close

 

[Zipi]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

About 1h 40min to launch window opening. Spaceflight Now has web cast at their mission status center:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

SpaceX official webcast which will start 20min before the launch time:

http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php

And something may also appear to SpaceX updates page:

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Might be good to keep an eye on the weather :

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/r...n=-80.65422058&label=Kennedy Space Center, FL

last 24h :

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

1350 GMT (9:50 a.m. EDT)
T-minus 90 minutes and counting. The thick cloud rule has gone green, but the cumulus cloud rule is now red. Storms are approaching the Cape Canaveral area from the west right now.

 

[aaron38]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

I'm glad the paper ran a blurb this morning, I almost missed this. I can't believe they're finally ready to go.
But I don't get a good feeling from the weather. The storms are slow moving and I don't think they'll have cleared the area by the end of the launch window. But maybe they'll disipate.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

1411 GMT (10:11 a.m. EDT)
Fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket is underway and the latest check of weather shows conditions are green across the board right now.
1406 GMT (10:06 a.m. EDT)
According to a last-minute press kit just released by SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket will reach orbit at T+plus 9 minutes, 38 seconds.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

About 1h 40min to launch window opening. Spaceflight Now has web cast at their mission status center:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

SpaceX official webcast which will start 20min before the launch time:

http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php

And something may also appear to SpaceX updates page:

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

1437 GMT (10:37 a.m. EDT)
The edge of the storms is now less than 50 miles west of the launch pad and moving east.
1435 GMT (10:35 a.m. EDT)
T-minus 45 minutes and counting. Although NASA will one day be a major customer for Falcon 9 launches, the agency's involvement in today's test flight is limited.

The NASA Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center is providing the Hangar AE telemetry facility as a conduit to forward data from pad 40 to the SpaceX control center at Port Canaveral. But Hangar AE will not be analyzing or releasing any imagery or data.

The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is funding launch support for long-range trackers located at KSC and Patrick Air Force Base. JSC is also paying for the NASA debris radar, normally used for space shuttle launches, to look at the performance of the rocket, staging dynamics, flight behavior and trajectory information. NASA says the debris radar can also be used to observe launch debris if a mishap occurs, but that is not its primary function.

United Space Alliance, the shuttle program's prime contractor, has dispatched one of its solid rocket booster recovery ships a few hundred miles northeast of Cape Canaveral to attempt to retrieve the Falcon 9's first stage. SpaceX is paying NASA through USA for the support of the Freedom Star vessel.

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

7:43AM my time & no webcast yet.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

They started show on spaceflightnow.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php

it was working before, cycling time-compressed video, now it gives :

An error occurred (503).

There is a report of lag of webcast on spaceflightnow chat, 3140 people watching, by theirs counter. I hope for recording of this interview.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

5:02 PM Slavonsky: T-18 and still novideo from spacex site

 

[rok1]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Webcast is running now.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Range officer has asked for a hold while they complete their check of the range. (At T-15:00)

 

[rok1]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

This length of Hold is going to allow those thunderstorms to continue moving east into the launch area..

 

[aaron38]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

The cell moving over Orlando is going to pass north of the Cape and is breaking up. Nothing behind that one.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

I disconnected from sfn, the video was funky and the chat was inane.

 

[rok1]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

They have live video and updates on the SpaceX webcast. The poor guy behind the microphone is probably out of things to talk about as this hold is longer than expected. But the video is live and has the countdown.

If it skips change to low bandwidth.

 

[docm]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Low signal to one of the FTS ground antennae according to NSF and CNN, possibly due to the strongback being in the way. Both CNN and FOX are covering it in promos and stories, and they show the live feed when they do it.

 

[docm]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

SFN: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/status.html

1604 GMT (12:06 p.m. EDT)
SpaceX says they have a "path forward" for launching at 1 p.m. EDT, and possibly earlier if they can resolve the flight termination system connectivity issues soon.

That said; they've raised the strongback to vertical. SpX says it's for testing and that the weather is good.

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

The Strongback has moved back again.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch

Countdown clock has been reset to T-27:30 and holding.