SpaceX Launch Scrubbed
Editor’s update: According to Elon Musk at SpaceX: on November 26, 2005 at 5:11 p.m. PST: “The launch is scrubbed for today.As I warned, the likelihood of an all new rocket launching from an all new launch pad on its first attempt is low.
What happened was that an auxiliary liquid oxygen (LOX) fill tank had a manual vent valve incorrectly set to vent.The time it took to correct the problem resulted in significant LOX boiloff and loss of helium, and it was the latter that caused the launch abort.LOX is used to chill the helium bottles, so we lose helium if there is no LOX to cool the bottles.
Although we were eventually able to refill the vehicle LOX tanks, the rate at which we could add helium was slower than the rate at which LOX was boiling away.There was no way to close the gap, so the launch had to be called off.In addition, we experienced an anomaly with the main engine computer that requires further investigation and was arguably reason in and of itself to postpone launch.
We are anticipating rescheduling the launch within a week at the earliest but probably longer as we need to bring in LOX and helium from Hawaii.Our LOX plant on Omelekwill not replenish in time.”
Editor’s update: Launch window has now been extended until 10:00 pm EST. Planned launch time is now 12:50 pm Kwaj time, 7:50 pm EST. today.
Editor’s update: today’s planned 4:00 pm EST launch has been delayed for several hours due to weather. The window remains open until 8:00 pm EST today.
SpaceX Falcon Launch Delayed by 24 Hours
“SpaceX was just informed that “in order to facilitate preparations for a missile defense launch”, the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) has bumped the SpaceX Falcon 1 maiden flight from its officially scheduled launch date of Friday, November 25 at 1 p.m. PST (9 p.m. GMT). The new launch time is Saturday, November 26 1 p.m. PST (9 p.m. GMT).”
