Undaunted by three straight failures, SpaceX could launch its fourth Falcon 1 vehicle as early as Tuesday. Company founder Elon Musk’s latest blog update on Friday indicates that the company is close to a launch from its facility in the Marshall Islands.
“Having said that, it is still possible that we encounter an issue that needs to be investigated, which would delay launch until the next available window in late October. If preparations go smoothly, we will conduct a static fire on Saturday and launch sometime between Tuesday and Thursday (California time).”
The California-based company hopes that Falcon 1 will open an era of cheap launches into low Earth orbit. SpaceX also is working on a larger Falcon 9 rocket, which it will use to send crews and supplies to the International Space Station. The first flight of Falcon 9 is expected at the end of this year.
The first three Falcon 1 launches have failed. The first exploded shortly after launch. The second entered space but failed to put its dummy satellite into orbit. The third flight failed after the first stage collided with the second after separation.
Despite the problems, Jeff Foust of The Space Review reports that Musk and his people remain confident of their eventual success. This is pretty much what would expect them to say. The article is most interesting for details that it reveals about Musk’s expansive plans for the future, which include developing a cryogenic upper stage to give the Falcon 9 rocket “a sort of Saturn 5 capability.”
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