The engine bell there is glowing red. Its designed to glow as hot as white hot, according to the video.
Posted on 09/28/2008 7:09:40 PM PDT by anymouse
The Falcon 1 booster redeemed itself Sunday with an electrifying launch that put an exclamation point on six years of hard work and disappointment for SpaceX, the startup company chartered to revolutionize space travel.
The 70-foot-tall rocket successfully delivered a 364-pound hunk of aluminum to orbit on the launcher's fourth flight, ending a streak of three consecutive Falcon 1 failures dating back to 2006.
"That was freakin' awesome," said Elon Musk, CEO and chief technical officer of Space Technologies Corp.
Musk established SpaceX in 2002 and funded the company from the fortune he earned from starting Zip2 and PayPal.
"We made orbit thanks to the hard of work of SpaceX and all you guys," Musk told a crowd of employees at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.
Musk, who appeared speechless during his address to workers, said his nervous system had been frazzled by the successful launch.
"There are a lot of people that thought we couldn't do it, but as the saying goes, fourth time's the charm," Musk said.
The mission logo for the launch, known as Flight 4 in SpaceX parlance, includes two four-leaf clovers symbolizing the end of the rocket's string of bad luck.
"Getting to orbit, that's just a huge milestone," Musk said. "There are only a handful of countries on Earth that have done it. It's normally a country thing, not a company thing."
The rocket reached the end of a smooth countdown at 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT) Sunday. Unlike previous countdowns riddled by last-second aborts, this time the rocket's Merlin 1C engine ramped up to 78,000 pounds of thrust and the black-and-white launcher was cleared for takeoff.
The rocket flew east from the company's launch site on Omelek Island at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. The Falcon 1's first stage completed its burn two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, and the spent booster separated from the rocket's second stage five seconds later.
Stage separation was the moment of failure during the Falcon 1's third flight in August, but this time the critical event occurred as planned.
SpaceX employees gathered inside the company's massive assembly hangar let out cheers as the second stage Kestrel engine fired and propelled the rocket away from the first stage.
The two halves of the 11.5-foot-tall metal fairing were let go about 30 seconds later, prompting another round of applause from company workers.
The Kestrel burned for nearly seven minutes before shutting down once on-board computers detected the rocket had arrived in orbit.
Then the party began.
"I want to have a really great party tonight," Musk told his employees. "I don't know about you guys."
Commercial space ping.
Cool, any pics anywhere?
Buddy, you just said a mouthful!! Congratulations!
This is great news when the US government space program is lagging behind others.
Wonder how Russia and China’s commercial, civilian space program is going?
Viva Free Enterprise.
Can we replace big Government faster than they are taking over private enterprise????
The race is on!!
I love the wild cheering in the background. LOL!
Come a long way from the V2
The engine bell there is glowing red. Its designed to glow as hot as white hot, according to the video.
Not what you usually hear from Houston after a NASA launch.
To: Not a dime of tax payer money spent? Don't kid yourself. You can bet your bottom dollar that every grant and tax write off available (and even some not intended for such things)has been exploited. there is always taxpayers money available for any little thing you can imagine.
Don’t be a spoilsport. Elon Musk invested his own money in it and had to fight waves of ignorant bureaucracy spouting then same ignorant and spiteful BS you are pitching. These guys are developing technology, not posturing. This is an orbital flight, not suborbital. This flight has nothing to do with suborbital tourism, except indirectly in that a rising tide lifts all boats....
Sure he will sell rides to the government (they seem to be in need of a ride once the shuttle gets decommissioned in a few years.)
SpaceX’s Falcon 9/Dragon crew vehicle is designed for orbital flight not suborbital manned flight. And it will be tested thoroughly before anyone climbs aboard for a ride to orbit.
NASA shills like you are so predictable and usually can't make a point without lies or ad homin attacks. But tonight Elon Musk has the last laugh.
If you want to hear Robert Bigelow talk about SpaceX launch and his Bigelow Aerospace projects, listen to Coast-to-Coast talk radio right now.
Kwaj Ping!!!
Very nice, and that nozzle housing sure gets hot.
I noted that customary vibration seemed to be almost non-existent here. That was about as smooth as it gets.
Don't worry, baby, eh eh eh eh, it's electric.
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