That’s Hot – SpaceX Falcon in Space

Elon Musk may have made history today.

The video feed cut out after the second stage went through some harmonic oscillations. In any case, the first stage worked wonderfully, and the rocket made it to space.

Update: “We did have a roll-control anomaly,” Musk says of the second stage. Fate of the rocket remains unknown. Elon says the rocket may have re-entered the atmosphere prior to reaching the intended orbit. The rolling motion caused the second stage engine to shut down early. (further updates in comments below)

The rocket uses dynamic thrust control to stabilize the flight without fins. After the cowlings fell away, it went into a roll.

Info from SpaceX on the Falcon milestones: The Falcon 1 rocket will begin its journey to orbit, accelerating to 17,000 mph (25 times the speed of sound) in less than ten minutes. Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, Falcon 1 is a two stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and purified, rocket grade kerosene. On launch day, Falcon 1 will launch into the history books for several notable reasons:
• It will be the first privately developed, liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit and the world’s first all new orbital rocket in over a decade.
• The main engine of Falcon 1 (Merlin) will be the first all new American hydrocarbon engine for an orbital booster to be flown in forty years and only the second new American booster engine of any kind in twenty-five years.
• The Falcon 1 is the only rocket flying 21st century avionics, which require a small fraction of the power and mass of other systems.
• It will be the world’s only semi-reusable orbital rocket apart from the Shuttle.
• Most importantly, Falcon 1, priced at $6.7 million, will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, despite receiving a design reliability rating equivalent to that of the best launch vehicles currently flying in the United States.