--- title: Pushing the Envelope for Private Spaceflight date: '2007-03-21T05:30:00Z' categories: - Science tags: - Falcon 1 - rocketry - space - spaceflight - SpaceX summary: SpaceX's Falcon 1 has reached space on its second test flight, a significant step in the privatization of spaceflight. original: url: http://bendiken.net/2007/03/21/pushing-the-envelope-for-private-spaceflight archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20080509074919/http://bendiken.net/2007/03/21/pushing-the-envelope-for-private-spaceflight notice: Some of its images were not archived. --- A couple hours ago, aerospace startup SpaceX [succeeded](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/updates.php) in launching a two-stage [Falcon 1](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/falcon1.php) rocket to [sub-orbital](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-orbital_spaceflight) space, attaining an altitude of 300 kilometers before the second stage [shut down prematurely](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon/f2/status.html). Anomalies aside, this is a pretty significant step in the [privatization of spaceflight](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_spaceflight) — for perspective, consider that the [International Space Station](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station) orbits the Earth at approximately 360 km. [![Falcon 1 Demo-2 T-00:00:02](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/artob/ar.to/master/src/content/essays/2007/03/20070321-spacex-1.jpg)](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/video_gallery.php) Blast-off from the [Omelek Island](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omelek_Island) launch pad at [Kwajalein Atoll](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwajalein_Atoll) in the Pacific. This [second](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_1#First_flight_failure) Falcon test flight, dubbed the Demo-2, didn’t yet reach its intended circular orbit of 685 km, to where it was to deliver a 50 kg experimental [NASA](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.nasa.gov/) payload. It did, however, achieve the primary mission objective of validating the rocket’s structural design and avionics, and set a new private spaceflight altitude record to boot. Space buffs will recall that it was just three years ago, in 2004, that the [CSXT](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Space_eXploration_Team) team launched the first private rocket to reach the final frontier (gaining a verified altitude of 115 km), and [Scaled Composites](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.scaled.com/) won the [X Prize](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansari_X_Prize) with their [SpaceShipOne](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne) craft that made the first privately funded human spaceflight (to 112 km). So, tech [hectomillionaire](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire) and space entrepreneur [Elon Musk’s](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk) bold venture is starting to pay off — good thing, too, as he reportedly has invested over \$100 million of his personal wealth to bootstrap the company. The [Falcon 1](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_1) is billed as the world’s first privately funded and developed liquid-fueled orbital launch vehicle, and is currently priced at \$7 million a pop — significantly cheaper than any previous orbital delivery solution. It’s a two-stage kerosene—liquid-oxygen design capable of delivering a [LEO](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit) payload of up to 670 kg. The rocket is built to be simple, reliable and dirt-cheap. As Elon [says](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/media.php?page=44): > *“The Merlin is much more analogous to a truck engine than a sports car > engine, which is how all other engines are designed. Instead of designing it > to the bleeding edge of performance and drawing out every last ounce of > thrust, we designed Merlin to be easy to build, easy to fix and robust. It can > take a beating and still keep going.”* Elon has stated that his dream is to revolutionize access to space by ultimately improving cost and reliability by a factor of 10 over existing solutions. If you didn’t catch the [webcast](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/webcast.php), SpaceX has just made available a [video recording](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/video_gallery.php) of the flight. Here’s a timeline of the mission’s highlights: > - **T+0:05** *“We have liftoff!”* > - **T+0:12** *“Falcon has cleared the tower”* > - **T+0:42** Velocity 128 m/s, altitude 2.6 km, guidance nominal. > - **T+1:20** Passing through [max > Q](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Q) > - **T+1:25** Velocity 450 m/s, altitude 13.9 km > - **T+2:50** Stage separation, altitude ~90.5km *(cheers from the control > room)* > - **T+3:00** *“Second stage ignition confirmed”* > - **T+3:14** > [Fairing](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairing) > separation > - **T+3:27** Velocity 2634 m/s, altitude 117 km > - **T+4:14** Velocity 2778 m/s, altitude 161 km > > > > - **T+5:03** Video feed cut-off due to a roll control anomaly There’s also a [feature](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5052) and a lively post-mortem [discussion](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=7169) at [NASASpaceFlight](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/), detailing the pre-launch drama of the last couple days (including the aborted ignition at T-0 yesterday), and what exactly went wrong in the second stage of the flight today. Anyway, it looks like 2007 is going to be a major milestone in private spaceflight. SpaceX has two more launches [lined up](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php) this year, with commercial payloads no less, and I’d be surprised if they couldn’t attain their objective of being the first in the emerging private aerospace industry to achieve low-Earth-orbit payload insertion. Congratulations are in order to Elon & the team. They are directly partaking in shaping the very future of humanity by getting us [back on track](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Apogee/dp/189652267X) to becoming a true [spacefaring civilization](https://web.archive.org/web/20070321/http://www.amazon.com/Entering-Space-Creating-Spacefaring-Civilization/dp/1585420360).