Falcon 1 Rocket Fails Another Test Launch
Elon Musk runs SpaceX - the commercial space launch - but is finding obstacles keeping him from achieving his goal. He tested the Falcon 1 for the third time only to find more glitches. The upper stage failed to separate from the lower that way that it was made to.
“It was obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit on this flight,” said Musk in an online statement at the weekend. “On the plus side, the flight of our first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine that will be used in Falcon 9, was picture perfect. Unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together. This is under investigation and I will send out a note as soon as we understand exactly what happened.”
SpaceX has plans for a more powerful and larger system dubbed the Falcon 9 - which is planning on taking off next year. This rocket could one day be man-rated, and carry astronauts into orbit in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. “The primary design driver,” of the Falcon rockets, according to SpaceX, “is and will remain reliability.”