Oh wait, sorry. The site says "Liftoff is now expected at 5:55 PDT / 8:55 EDT / 00:55 UTC."

Pablos102030

so basically it's in ten minutes?

Pablos102030

[spacex.com]

Technogen

Hah hah. QuickTime crapped out on them during the webcast.

DisposableInterloper

Focus! Focus!!

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

just to let anyone who wanted to watch is, or is still interested...its 10:22 est time and the thing still hasn't launched

so you can still catch it!

jrghoull

I'm still trying to figure out exactly how the space launch industry has _not_ been privatized for all these years that NASA has been farming out their non-critical launches to large corporations with even larger unmanned rockets.

Purple Dave

edit: they are now saying it will launch 11:01 est

jrghoull

No damage, should be ready to launch again in 30-40 minutes i think.

aeroworks

DELAYED!!!

launch aborted at t-1 second

tenio

aborted. They're gonna delay it again.

Zlevee

I'm still trying to figure out how someone who went to my high school became so damn successful and rich.

Go Mather Rangers! Go!

GiltProto

30 seconds

Zlevee

I saw it start to rise and then it cut to the onboard cameras...

Maddrjeffe

That's too bad, it was pretty cool up to that point....

Mandatory_Field

aw mother F-ERS!!

it went from just about to launch (lots of smoke coming out) to being in the air, and recieving video from the exterior of it...but didnt actually see it take off

did everyone else see it take off or did they do this to everyone?

also there an anomaly? gagzooks!

jrghoull

IS THERE A BOOM?!?

Con Seannery

Webcast hosts didn't look too happy

aeroworks

well its not brain surgery, its just rocket science.

Maddrjeffe

@Maddrjeffe: @Zlevee: @tenio:

lol three different spelling of lift off

"there has been an anomaly?

tenio

Uhh ohh, video abrubtly cutoff then they said something is wrong. about 40km up

aeroworks

anomaly bad!

redrob2

uh oh...an anomaly!

SgtToastie

You know, seeing that atoll get smaller and smaller is awe inspiring.

Maddrjeffe

'bout time!

launch off at 23:35 EST

SgtToastie

liftoff!

Zlevee

Lift-off!!!!!

Maddrjeffe

LIFT OFF

tenio

who will be the first person to reply with "fail" when it doesn't go anywhere?

redrob2

T-60 seconds!!!

Maddrjeffe

1 minute!

tenio

t-3 minutes!!!

tenio

@tenio:
Yeah, they must have realized that I got side-tracked and would have missed it (sorry about that everyone!), but I just caught them lowering the support frame.

Purple Dave

8 minutes and counting!

jrghoull

11:26...about to launch it

jrghoull

t-10 minutes!!!!

tenio

Haha, I was at a restaurant, I thought I missed it! Will Gizmodo be doing a follow-up post when/if it launches?

Pablos102030

This is from

[www.spaceflightnow.com]

No further information is available from SpaceX at this time.

To recap, the third flight of the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket began at 11:34 p.m. EDT (0334 GMT) today from Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll of the Central Pacific Ocean.

An initial countdown experienced a shutdown of the main engine moments before liftoff due to a propulsion system perimeter being slightly out of limits, SpaceX said. But the launch team was able to resolve the issue quickly. Another countdown was started and the rocket lifted off just 34 minutes later.

Climbing skyward on the power of its kerosene-fueled Merlin 1C engine, the rocket was headed for orbit to deploy the U.S. military's Trailblazer satellite as part of the Operationally Responsive Space effort and NASA's PharmaSat Risk Evaluation spacecraft and the NanoSail-D solar sail payload.

A video camera mounted on the rocket appeared to show some oscillations during the ascent. Whether that was normal or a sign of trouble is not yet clear.

About two minutes, 20 seconds into the ascent, the video broadcast provided by SpaceX was abruptly terminated. A company spokesperson then said there had been "an anomaly" with the launch vehicle.

"We are hearing from the launch control center that there has been an anomaly on the vehicle," said Max Vozoff, a mission manager at SpaceX. "We don't have any information about what that anomaly is at this time. We will, of course, be doing an assessment of the situation and providing information as soon as it becomes available."

tenio

@Con Seannery:

Or maybe it hit an alien mothership...

Maddrjeffe

Anyone else see all the liquid vapor on the camera until about mach 1. After mach 1 it disappeared. I'm sure its weather related but maybe there was a leak of some kind?

aeroworks

maybe it was detected as an ICBM and shot down by a missile defense system

Con Seannery

@Con Seannery: ya lol it happened.. i even refreshed like 10 times and went to the page again throught giz... back now tho

tenio

@Technogen: Yup. They were talking about using it to ferry folks to the ISS. Well, SpaceX was talking about it. Not sure how serious NASA would be about a private company shuttling NASA astronauts.

Anyway, it is far too early to tell whether there are real issues with the vehicle or if this was a minor glitch. Heck, we don't even know whether the failure was catastrophic or if the payload bay has floated down into the Pacific on a chute recovery chute. Give it time.

ptyork

did a big cunk of comments just go away for anyone else?

Con Seannery

according to this

[www.spaceflightnow.com]

it appears the 1st-stage rocket worked... there must of been an issue when they changed to second-stage rocket

tenio

@ptyork: Private spaceflight, whats the result? Busted.

Con Seannery

@aeroworks:
Probably not, since they had satellites on board and were hoping that the spacecraft could fill the gap when they retire the shuttle.

Maddrjeffe

@Mandatory_Field:
Well yeah. They cut the video which doesn't bode well but Im still refreshing for updates. Fingers Crossed

Maddrjeffe

@aeroworks: No they were hoping to use the craft too.

Technogen

I bet NASA is laughing right about now.

aeroworks

@Con Seannery: Were Adam and Jamie on site?

ptyork

@Maddrjeffe: Me too, but nothing's happening....

Mandatory_Field

@ptyork: Nozzle blow out like the salami rocket?

Con Seannery

@tenio: Im still on the feed page.

Maddrjeffe

@tenio: Yeah, I saw differing burn characteristics from the exhaust as the rocket ascended, but perhaps this was more to do with lowering oxygen levels. Still, possibly there was a problem with the mixture valve or something causing the liquid O2 not to flow quickly enough and thus causing the engine to snuff out. It did look very strange going from bright orange to essentially dark. Who knows. I suppose we'll find out shortly.

ptyork

@tenio: But, would it be a Twitter Shitter?

Con Seannery

it appears they got rid of the internet feed, cant access that page anymore, still can access the main website

i wish they had a twitter feed for this spacecraft

"I am now hundreds of pieces falling over the pacific"

tenio

Posted August 2, 2008 - 20:38 PDT

We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly. More details will be posted to the website as available.

ururk

Could a problem have developed, so they cut the feed? Did someone trip on a cable and unplug the ground receiver?

Con Seannery

@Con Seannery: LOL, same here. The evil side of me wants to see this thing go off like the 4th of July, but I know how much hard work and money is riding on this thing. not to mention the future of private space biz.

aeroworks

big question is did the anomaly have anything to do with the earlier abort?

Maddrjeffe

@jrghoull: No, you saw the liftoff kind of. Just the flame rising. They didn't have camera operators on the island, so everything was locked down.

I'm guessing there was a boom, though hopefully something like a controlled shutdown (afterall it's liquid fuel, not solid, so shutdowns are possible). I'm wondering whether they have a payload recovery system or if those 'spensive satellites are lost.

ptyork

it was like a big smoke ring or something....then video cut off

i really wish they could of shown us the lift off with picture-in-picture cams showing us the pov of the spacecraft

tenio

yeah, until the "anomaly" it looked awesome. But its not like there were any shocks and the rocket looked like it was pointed the right way (i.e. up)
so maybe its not a biggie.

Maddrjeffe

@aeroworks: hey, what's that bright light in the distance...looks like a....*static*

SgtToastie

Maybe they forgot that batteries need o2 in order to function and the power shut off. lol

aeroworks

I saw the plume, the fire, and saw it pass over the cloud from ignition. Looked good, but all I could think was CHALLENGER CHALLENGER CHALLENGER CHALLENGER

Con Seannery

I was able to watch it from lift-off through ~T+2:10 when the "anomaly" happened - everything looked peachy till then.

Keighvin

Well, that was anti-climactic. I went straight from seeing it still sitting on the pad to seeing a post-takeoff in-flight shot. No actual liftoff for me. I'd noticed the video feed was lagging a bit here and there, and wondered how they would catch it up with real-time. Seems they just skip the important bits.

Purple Dave

Turns out this thing was carrying WMD. Seems Hillary Clinton was pissed about loosing afterall. If she can't have the country nobody can!

;)

aeroworks

@Con Seannery: This is the case. I found an update saying just three words: "Rocket is lost". This was approximately 10 minutes after launch. There have been no updates since.

BZWingZero

Almost an hour since the anomaly, 10 imaginary dollars says it's a total catastrophic failure of the launch vehicle, complete payload loss.

Con Seannery

The same thing once happened to Bill Gates.

On the plus side, big explosion in the sky beats blue screen of death.

Logan5

I was kind of hoping the vehicle would explode, the camera would stay intact and record the devastation, and maybe the payload would live.

Con Seannery

The 1st and 2nd stages failed to separate properly and doomed the rocket. Lost aboard the Falcon was the U.S. military's Trailblazer satellite, two small NASA payloads and a cache of cremated human remains, including the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan.

[www.spaceflightnow.com]

thesoundman

Solar sail payloads are a curse! So far they are 0 for 2.

And I guess that Elon Musk is no Werner Von Braun.

GiltProto

After years of coming through for us on all technical failures possible, and when he needed us most, we couldn't come through for Scottie.

Sad on several levels.

rudolphdude

I know this is bad but, "Capt! We Need more Power!"

aeroworks

Too many people thinking CHALLENGER CHALLENGER CHALLENGER CHALLENGER

Con Seannery

I can't believe Gizmodo didn't update or post a new article on this saddening event. Somehow I believe that if some new overpriced adapter for the iphone were released, there would be an insta post on it. Although, it is early so ill cut some slack.

aeroworks

The Falcon 1 rocket, a sleek black-and-white booster built to usher in an era of low-cost space travel, was bitten by failure for the third time in three tries during a dramatic Saturday night launch from the central Pacific.

"Unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and chief technical officer.

"SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward," Musk said. "We have Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 almost ready for flight, and Flight 5 right behind that."

hnkelley

Oh dang, missed the launch. Actually, I completely forgot. Oh well.

A CHALLENGER APPEARS

Or would that be disappears? Guess we'll know more tommorow.

Pablos102030

"Radar, put a mask on!"

"I have a message..."

strider_mt2k

@aeroworks: Yeah, there's a post up about it now (Thanks Jack!), but the reason nobody said anything right as the rocket exploded should be clear -

It was midnight on a Saturday night = prime drinking time for Elaine.

Elaine Chow

@hnkelley:
Flight 5 will be right behind Flight 4? Well, the timing and aiming will be all kinds of tricky, but it just might be the way to circumvent the whole stage-separation problem they're having...

Purple Dave