It is now confirmed that a helium leak caused the scrub of the Falcon 9 May 10 launch.
According to reports, no damage occurred, but tracing the leak has apparently taken longer than expected, which explains the slip in the announced schedule.
The next Falcon 9 commercial launch, scrubbed from early May, has now been rescheduled to June 11.
This new date is a significant slip in the schedule, as they originally announced only a two week delay, and this adds on another two weeks. The original announced reason for the scrub was umbilical connection issues, but a commenter here at Behind The Black says it might have been something more serious, “a helium pressurization bottle burst in the stage.”
Read the full transcript of Tuesday’s briefing in Russia on the subject of the U.S./Russian cooperation in space.
It is very worthwhile reading the entire thing. The text makes it very clear that Russia is not kicking us out of ISS, as has been wrongly reported by several news agencies. It also makes clear that the Russians consider the Obama administration’s actions childish, thoughtless, and unproductive. They also emphasize how the U.S. government is generally an “unreliable” partner in these matters, something that I have noted before when our government has broken space agreements with Europe.
The text also clarifies the GPS situation. The stations we have in Russia are in connection with scientific research, something they wish to do also in the U.S. If an agreement isn’t reached, that research will cease. Actual use of GPS for navigational purposes will not be effected.
Side note: NASA says that they have not yet received any official notice from Russia concerning the briefing above. This might be because Rogozin’s briefing was meant merely as a shot across the bow, or it could be that the Russians have not yet gotten around to doing it. We shall see.
Much has been made about the sanctions the Obama administration has imposed on any cooperation with Russia due to the situation in Ukraine and how those sanctions might damage the commercial and manned space efforts of the United States.
So far, all evidence has suggested that the sanctions have little teeth. The Obama administration exempted ISS from the sanctions. It also appears to be allowing the shipment of all commercial satellites to Russia for launch. Even a court injunction against using Russia rocket engines in U.S. military launches was lifted when the Obama administration asked the judge to do so.
The Russians now have responded. Why do I take their response more seriously?
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Fact checking Elon Musk’s statements about his company’s efforts to reuse the Falcon 9 first stage reminds us of some space history and one of Musk’s chief competitors.
The bottom line: Bringing the first stage back to Earth safely and vertically is doable, and has been done before.
Because of issues preventing a dress rehearsal countdown and launchpad static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket SpaceX has delayed Saturday’s launch.
No new date has yet been set, but I expect the delay will not be long.
The competition heats up: SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 commercial launch, set for early Saturday morning, will once again attempt a soft splashdown of its first stage.
If this launch happens as scheduled it will also be the fastest turn-around between launches for the company.
The competition heats up: Thaicom has chosen Orbital Sciences to build its next major communications satellite and SpaceX to launch it.
Thaicom used a Falcon 9 in January to launch its Thaicom 6 satellite, also built by Orbital Sciences. Apparently they were very satisfied with both companies.
SpaceX has released video of its Falcon 9 first stage splashing down vertically in the ocean.
The video is not very good, but at one point you can clearly see for a flash that the first stage is vertical and appears to be hovering above the water.
For decades engineers and managers in the aerospace industry have said that returning a first stage vertically made no sense. Elon Musk insisted that SpaceX try. It appears he and his company are now going to prove that everyone else was wrong about this.
A proposed House bill would forbid use of Russian rocket engines in launching any American military payloads.
This bill is being put forth partly because of the Ukrainian situation and partly to support SpaceX’s effort to break the ULA Atlas/Delta monopoly on military launches. Whether it makes any sense or not is of course beside the point.
Meanwhile, the State Department has expanded the sanctions on satellite exports to Russia, which might threaten some future commercial Proton launches.
Both actions suggest that Elon Musk’s political clout is growing. Obviously his company’s concerns are not the prime motivation behind these decisions, but we should note that both actions hurt his direct competitors, while doing little harm to SpaceX.
Some additional details about SpaceX’s effort Friday to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth gently.
They have not yet released a full report, but it appears that the company has made progress. They were able to control the stage’s spinning as it descended, and it apparently was still functioning after it hit the water.
Dragon has successfully reached orbit.
No word on the attempt to bring the first stage down to the water under controlled conditions. One announcement during launch said the video was good and that the stage’s first burn was successful.
