spacetoday.net: Falcon 1 launch fails

Updated: Sun, Aug 3, 2008, 8:52 AM ET (1252 GMT)
Originally Posted: Sun, Aug 3, 2008, 1:14 AM ET (0514 GMT)
Falcon 1 launch on 2nd mission (SpaceX)

The third launch of the Falcon 1 small launch vehicle developed by SpaceX failed about two and a half minutes after launch Saturday night. The Falcon 1 lifted off from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll at 11:34 pm EDT Saturday (0334 GMT Sunday) after several delays, including a last-second abort 34 minutes earlier. Video from an onboard camera continued until about two and a half minutes later, near the end of the first stage burn, when the connection was abruptly cut; a SpaceX spokesman said in a webcast that an "anomaly" had taken place during the launch. In a statement released by SpaceX shortly after the failure, company CEO Elon Musk said a problem occurred during stage separation, causing the failure. The rocket was carrying a small satellite, Trailblazer, built by SpaceDev for the Operationally Responsive Space Office of the Defense Department, as well as two small NASA secondary payloads and a Malaysian payload adapter. The first Falcon 1 launch, in early 2006, failed when a fire shut down its first stage engine about half a minute after launch; the second Falcon 1, a year later, flew into space but failed to reach orbit because of a stage separation problem that caused an oscillation of the second stage. In the statement, Musk said that SpaceX would press on with the next two Falcon 1 launches, and that the company had received a sizable investment recently to fund continued development of the company's vehicles.