Falcon 1 Flight 5

[RisingFury]

Gooj job SpaceX. I bet a lot of us believed there was at least some chance of seeing fireworks again.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

GREAT JOB SPACEX!!!

COTS-D here we come!!! :speakcool:

 

[RisingFury]

Yea, first we need the F9 off the ground, then we need Dragon off the ground.

Though both of these two are scheduled for this year.
Though I must say... last time I checked the Launch manifest, there were 4 launches scheduled for 2009. Now there are only 3 and they have not yet removed yesterday's F1 flight.

With all honesty, I think this is the last flight we've seen from SpaceX this year. F9 is in some trouble and they have said they won't launch before fall... but I doubt they'll even make that deadline.

 

[Jarvitä]

Missed this one...congratulations on another successful flight SpaceX!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Here's the launch video:

 

[thomasantony]

Hats off to SpaceX! I missed the launch since I had to go off to class. Oddly, I seem to have missed getting any notification of this launch in my email through their newsletter. Maybe it went into "Spam" for some reason ... I only learned about this launch when I had woke up early( at 4 AM ) in vain to watch the space shuttle launch.

 

[mbartley]

Webcast Just Started! GOO SPACEX! HAIL PROBE!

And on that note, I thought I'd try this anachronistic Falcon 1 - Probe launch. Sorry, I could only get it into LEO.

 

[RisingFury]

Well, this launch was due over a month and a half ago... but after they found incompatibilities between the launcher and sat, they postponed. There was a notification about the new launch date on their site a while ago, but I can't remember if they sent out a newsletter.

Their site updates and newsletters have gotten considerably slower since F9 got erected at Cape.

 

[simonpro]

My hope is that the lower frequency of updates means that they're turning into a professional launch company rather than a bunch of obnoxious loudmouths. they seem to slowly be realising that it doesn't matter what the general public thinks, it matters what your customers think: And they don't care about flashy websites or PR updates.

 

[Artlav]

I thought I'd try this anachronistic Falcon 1 - Probe launch.

...And here my OH search failed to return anything not star wars related.
Where can i get Falcon 1 add-on?

 

[DaveS]

...And here my OH search failed to return anything not star wars related.
Where can i get Falcon 1 add-on?

Right here: [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3318"]Space-X launchers and Dragon v0,58[/ame]

 

[mbartley]

Right here: Space-X launchers and Dragon v0,58

Yep, that's the one I used, plus the version of The Probe that's used as a sample payload in the [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1031"]CVEL Titans v1.34[/ame] add-on.

I changed the end of the Config\SpaceX\Falcon-1.ini file to:

;PUT YOUR PAYLOAD HERE
[PAYLOAD_1]
off=(0.,0.,11.)
speed=(0.,0.,1.)
rot_speed=(0.,0.,0.)
MeshName="probe"
Module="probe"
name="probe"
Diameter=1.2
Height=1.3
Mass=278.5
render=0

I got Diameter, Height, and Mass from the Wikipedia page for Luna 3.

BTW - it didn't matter for this stunt, but whenever I use a multistage(2) launch vehicle to launch a payload that is defined by either a DLL or just a .CFG text file (such as this version of The Probe, or the sample payloads in the SpaceX add-on), the payload always ends up with zero fuel when jettisoned. Spacecraft3-based payloads work fine though. Is this a known issue?

 

[Andy44]

Is this a known issue?

Yup.

---------- Post added at 01:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 AM ----------

I hope they release better video later. The sound of the ignition dropped out and the camera lens was covered in raindrops.

Also, we should keep an eye out to see if they recover the first stage this time.

 

[Notebook]

On the You Tube video:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfdk_VZMjQI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eorbiter%2Dforum%2Ecom%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D108132&feature=player_embedded

At 7:35 into the clip(T+4:50), a small graphic comes up in the title bar, above the timer. Any one know what its for?

Thanks, N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

On the You Tube video:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfdk_VZMjQI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eorbiter%2Dforum%2Ecom%2Fshowthread%2Ephp%3Fp%3D108132&feature=player_embedded

At 7:35 into the clip(T+4:50), a small graphic comes up in the title bar, above the timer. Any one know what its for?

Thanks, N.

That's just part of the webcast client program. It shows the bitrate.
Unrelated: That video stops well before SECO.

 

[Notebook]

Thanks for that Quick Nick, thought it might be something more intersting!

Re length of clip, is there a longer version somewhere?

N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Indeed.

The only 'fun' part of the rest of the flight is that the spacecraft reached SECO at the same time the webcast cut out. (quite a nice coincidence )
Not seen in these videos is the terrible wind and stormclouds that were around very shortly before the videos begin.

 

[Notebook]

Thanks Quick Nick, thats better, would have been nice to see more, but shouldn't be greedy.

N.

 

[silent_protagonist]

Some great photos of the launch.
http://www.spacex.com/launch_updates.php

 

[Star Voyager]

Those are great photos! It still reminds me of a James Bond movie where the bad guy launches in some no-where tropical scene !