Not a lot of info yet on the launch but it was not totally successful.
1st attempt today was automatically aborted after the engines were ignited. I don't recall ever hearing of an abort shutting down the engines after ignition had already occurred but before liftoff so that may be a first.
The 2nd attempt lost telemetry 5 minutes into the flight and it is
thought that there was a 2nd stage failure of some type yet to be determined.
Link"I think I'll characterize this as a very good day for SpaceX. We successfully reached space and really retired almost all the risk associated with the rocket. So I feel very good about where things are.
"Stage separation also went very well. Separation events are the No. 2 killer of rockets after engine issues. Both the stage separation and fairing separation went flawlessly. Second stage ignition also was perfect, and we achieved steady state burn on the second stage.
"We did encounter late in the second stage burn a roll-control anomaly, which you may have seen on the video webcast. We feel that is something that's pretty straight forward to address. So all in all we feel pretty good about this launch.
"This was a test launch, which I think most people are aware. So, yes, I think it was a pretty good test."
At this point it is unsure if the Falcon achieved orbit or not. It did reach space though. It is possible that only the telemetry failed and the rocket was otherwise successful.
Topic: SpaceX to attempt 2nd Falcon launch (Read 1444 times)