SpaceX Rocket Launch Aborted in Last Minute

[cali]

Source: ABC


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. May 19, 2012 (AP)

A new private rocket is stuck on the ground after an aborted launch.

The countdown reached all the way to practically zero Saturday morning for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A NASA spokesman said the engine ignition sequence started, but there was an automatic shutdown by on-board computers. So instead of blasting off from Cape Canaveral on a delivery mission to the International Space Station, the rocket remained on its launch pad amid a cloud of engine exhaust.

An engine pressure problem is suspected. The next launch attempt will be Tuesday, if the problem can be resolved in time.

This was the first launch attempt by one of the private U.S. companies hoping to take over the job of delivering cargo and eventually astronauts to the space station for NASA.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/spacex-rocket-launch-aborted-minute-16384467#.T7dmNVJ9Z_Y

[joshcryer]

1. Only rocket being produced that can go to full thrust and still abort.

I love how the commentator goes, "and lifffft offf..."

[Brickbat]

5. Thanks for that -- that is cute.

[3waygeek]

2. How soon before the Republicans...

start yammering for legislation to ban aborted launches?

[BlueJazz]

3. LOL!..Yep..."These rockets need to quit flip-flopping"

[Ready4Change]

6. It was EXTREMELY late term...

Just sayin'.

[kirby]

11. Launch begins at ignition!!! n/t

[Posteritatis]

4. I like seeing last-minute aborts at times - means the right people are taking their jobs seriously.

Obviously things going off without a hitch is better, but with stuff like this I approve when the technicians decide to throw as few dice as they possibly can.

[Ready4Change]

7. I agree.

Much rather have an aborted launch than a catastrophic failure.

Hate to hear that things blew up do to 'gotta get off the pad' syndrome.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Yep, nobody wins when the payload goes a-glitter.

[Fearless]

9. Space flight for the wealthy. Yay. n/t

[octothorpe]

10. Yeah! There shouldn't be any space flight until everyone can have their own rockets and

launch facilities.

[Fearless]

13. That's not what I mean, and you know it.

[joshcryer]

12. SpaceX is trying to bring down the cost so you can retire on Mars.

If you are really committed to it.

[Fearless]

14. Private companies need to turn profit

Governments do not. SpaceX could innovate and create new cheaper ways of achieving space flight, but it will always, on a level playing field, still have to turn a profit and therefore be more expensive than NASA would if they chose to do it.

[Posteritatis]

15. "Cheaper than NASA" and "able to turn a profit" are not mutually exclusive things. (nt)

[XemaSab]

16. I would say that "Cheaper than NASA," "Able to turn a profit,"

and "Totally safe" are three mutually exclusive things.

In a profit-driven model, if stress tests indicate that there's a 1% likelihood that the whangdoodle nut will fail and taking the thing apart to replace the whangdoodle nut's going to cost a half a million dollars, that janky whangdoodle nut ain't going nowhere.

[Posteritatis]

17. Shifting goalposts aside, that's a remarkably clueless interpretation of things. (nt)

[XemaSab]

18. How so?

[joshcryer]

19. Rocket launches are primarily military in nature.

The vast majority of all rocket launches historically have been for military purposes. The government has created cronyism in the rocket launching industry. In fact, because the government has such a deep wallet, it is fine with "throwing away" rockets. SpaceX's vision is that for it to survive as a company it needs to bring about re-usability. If it cannot then it will be just another government rocket launcher.

The fact of the matter is that the Ares I-X contractor built rocket for NASA costed more than the entire Falcon 9 rocket for SpaceX. The launch pad for the Ares I costed twice what NASA has committed to SpaceX.

Your thesis that "it will be more expensive than NASA" is wholly without merit given how tightly bound NASA's rocket launchers and the MIC are.

[Roland99]

20. yeah...after about 30 seconds of standing at the living room window, I realized it was scrubbed...

bummer.

[backscatter712]

21. Looks like they already found the problem.

They found a faulty check valve in the engine that had the high pressure reading. Looks like right now they're replacing it.

Sounds like they're on track to try again on Tuesday.

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/faulty-check-valve-root-cause-of-spacex-abort-retry-may-22