Re: Saturday Falcon 1 launch and weather?


richard schumacher wrote:
> In article <43c50d48.349505542@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> simberg.interglobal@xxxxxxxxx (Rand Simberg) wrote:
>
> > >There's no live coverage; I'm following postings on
> > >spaceflightnow.com which is depending on company announcements.
> >
> > It's also being live blogged at Out of the Cradle:
> >
> > http://www.outofthecradle.net/archives/2005/11/stand-back-live-blogging-here/
>
> Insufficient pressure to fill the 2nd stage O2 tank is just silly. How
> many practice runs did they do? You know, where ya do everything that
> happens during a real launch except, well, launching it? Hindsight is
> golden, of course, but tests should include holds long enough to require
> and perform re-fuelling.

Musk actually said they did do this, where they did everything except
light the candle.
http://michaelbelfiore.com/blog/2005/11/spacex-prelaunch-conference.html
> "Q: Any dress rehearsals to work out bugs?
> A: We've done a wet rehearsal, where we load propellant and do a simulated coundown. > We've done everything we think we can do before launch to be ready."

What they didn't practice was incorrectly leaving a valve in the wrong
position.

This is always how things go with good new launchers, new ships, new
power plants, etc. You build the thing smart enough not to kill you if
you screw up, then you work out the kinks as you start it up. Otherwise
you end up spinning your wheels for years trying to determine the
consequences of every good or bad scenario prior to ever trying it.
That's how you end up with a program that launches as often as shuttle.

That's why the first launch(and several thereafter) is always a test,
because no matter how much energy you put into preventing bad things,
you're always going to miss something.

tom

.

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