SpaceX Falcon 9 Flight 1 Launch, June 4, 2010

[Zipi]

Spaceflight Now's launch photos: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/001/launch/

 

[newsartist]

It should be noted that the pictures run in SpaceFlightNow, were taken by Ben Cooper, who also posts on these threads.

Beautiful MaxQ shots Ben!

 

[Zipi]

FOX Photo Gallery: http://www.fox43.com/news/nationworld/o ... otogallery

 

[gwobserver]

I was wondering if anyone knows if the dragon capsule in orbit has communications or any test equipment for testing and development?

 

[davp99]

Wow and Congrats .....

i had a lot of friends that said after the abort, " this doesn't bold well for SpaceX.." I said lets see how well they handle this first..then, bang, They turned it right around and recylced the launch, something we would never see NASA do, Too Many arm chair managers, and rightly so,

But... within an hour ..LIGHTOFF !!

It WAS GREAT ...CONGRATS AGAIN ELON..and to all Your team
and Thanx for all the Videos guys..

 

[strandedonearth]

Congrats to SpaceX! Great flight!

 

[MeteorWayne]

I was wondering if anyone knows if the dragon capsule in orbit has communications or any test equipment for testing and development?

Not from what I've heard and read. It was an early prototype that has the shape and mass of the Dragon capsules under production, but is just an inert mass. Unless they snuck something like communications in and didn't tell anyone...that wouldn't really be out of charachter for SpaceX

 

[docm]

This flight was all about data collection. It's wired with sensors and has telemetry capability that will run until the onboard batteries are discharged - no solar arrays in the trunk cargo module.

 

[Zipi]

Does somebody seen any official comments about second stage roll? Second stage developed some roll during its burn, but for my eye it didn't seem too bad.

 

[docm]

Here's the result of the roll: the 2nd stage/Dragon tumbling over Australia about an hour after the launch. Locals took it for a UFO. Looks to be venting something.

http://www.universetoday.com/

After the Falcon 9 rocket launched successfully, later, over on the other side of the world, people in Australia saw a spiraling object in their early morning skies, about 6 am local time. Geoffrey Wyatt, from the Sydney Observatory, said it appeared to have been the Falcon 9 rocket, which launched about an hour earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N74l1XHVOTc

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N74l1XHVOTc[/youtube]

 

[hansolo0]

Was there ever a video somewhere of Elon's reaction once the F9 launched? I know when he got the first succesful F1 there was, but all is saw this time was a written statement ?

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.abc.net.au : UFO spotted over eastern Australia

Updated 8 hours 31 minutes ago



An astronomer says a bright spiralling light spotted in the sky by people across eastern Australia was probably a satellite, space junk or a rocket.

The UFO was seen moving through the sky just before Saturday's sunrise in New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT.

ABC News Online has received dozens of emails, pictures and videos from those who claim to have witnessed the huge white light.

Some described it as a "lollipop-type swirl". Others say it hovered for a while before gradually moving in an eastern direction until it was out of sight. Those who saw the object say photos do not reflect how large it actually was.

Geoffrey Whyatt from the Sydney Observatory says it was probably a satellite, space junk or a rocket.

"The fact that you've got the rotation, the spiral effect, is very reminiscent of the much widely reported sightings from Norway and Russia last year, which both turned out to be a Bulava missile which was being adjusted in its orbit," he said.

"So possibly a rocket, I would say, having some sort of gyroscopic stability rocket fired on its side."

Direct link to article in docm post :

http://www.universetoday.com : Spirialing 'UFO' Over Australia Was Likely Falcon 9 Rocket

More images :
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/1064452/spiralling-ufo-over-australia

and this :

from :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/05/oh-those-falcon-ufos/

thanks to Nancy Atkinson.

 

[newsartist]

Did the noted astronomer explain how the Falcon passed observers traveling East to West?

 

[Testing]

Did the noted astronomer explain how the Falcon passed observers traveling East to West?

quite cute

 

[MeteorWayne]

Did the noted astronomer explain how the Falcon passed observers traveling East to West?

Actually it was traveling west to east, as is clearly shown by the Gold Coast video showing it heading into the sunrise.

 

[docm]

Kewl.....

Definitely some background material in here. Those shots showing the engine cluster are just classic.

Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX via SpaceFlightNow

 

[Cosmicvoid]

I was wondering if anyone knows if the dragon capsule in orbit has communications or any test equipment for testing and development?

Not from what I've heard and read. It was an early prototype that has the shape and mass of the Dragon capsules under production, but is just an inert mass. Unless they snuck something like communications in and didn't tell anyone...that wouldn't really be out of charachter for SpaceX

There is some mention of that here:
http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index ... emid=21153

- Got lots of good data from the Dragon capsule. Though it was not a fully functional capsule, it was heavily instrumented and will help a lot with preparation for future flights.

 

[EarthlingX]

There is some mention of that here:
http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index ... emid=21153

Cause of abort?
- Problem with igniter on engine 3
- Sensors measure pressure as too high.
- After examination, decided limits were too conservative and widened them.

 

[vattas]

Was engine restart part of this mission? If not, how would it create these fireworks over Australia? That indicates something got broken?

BTW, after launch abort I went to help my wife, when I returned back to my computer, I heard 3..2..1..Liftoff! Screen saver didn't go away in time to see the liftoff. Damn.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Who knows if it was planned. SpaceX seldom or never reveals things in advance.
So far I have found nothing on their site giving any details.
If the 2nd stage reignition occurred over Australia (still not determined or confirmed) it would explain what was observed.

 

[tanstaafl76]

I distinctly remember the planned stage 2 shut-down/re-ignition process for the Falcon 1 flight, I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same for Falcon 9.

 

[tgeairn]

Has anyone seen an explanation for the early liftoff? Liftoff clearly occurs before T0 in the official SpaceX video, and really seems like the holddown system (for engine verification) didn't hold down.

Thoughts or references?

Thanks!

Edit: For fun, I went back to the video and find that the first vertical motion is while T -00:00:03 is showing on the screen; by my stopwatch it (vertical motion) begins at ~T -00:00:03.5.

 

[scottb50]

Edit: For fun, I went back to the video and find that the first vertical motion is while T -00:00:03 is showing on the screen; by my stopwatch it (vertical motion) begins at ~T -00:00:03.5.

I heard some discussion that it was a problem with the network feeds being out of sync and not the launch itself.

 

[vattas]

Was engine restart part of this mission? If not, how would it create these fireworks over Australia? That indicates something got broken?

User SpaceSamurai in the comments section of space.com article stated that Australian event occurred at the moment when SpaceX vented excess fuel/oxidizer from 2nd stage tanks. That probably explains it all.

 

[vulture4]

The local Space Coast press contains an incredible number of derogatory insults and attacks on SpaceX even after the successful launch.