The first SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Flight
This video was created by Benjamin Higginbotham on June 6, 2010
Posted in: Featured, Launch Events, Rocket Launches, SpaceX, Video
On June 4th, 2010 at 14:30 UTC the first ever Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Carrying the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit this flight was designed to test not only the vehicle itself but also begin tests of the Dragon capsule. Oh yeah, and AWESOME names for the vehicles!
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woo hoo first view!
nice!!!!
This camera is bugged!
@bunga40 ಠ_ಠ
Did you hear the interesting addendum to this launch?
There were reports along the Eastern seaboard of Australia at ~06:30 of a UFO, with a circular spiral pattern eminating from it’s centre. It was later announced on the news that the time’s correlated very closely to the launch time, & flight path.
302nd viewer!
that wasp was like omg wtf!!!
From a local flight test engineer…congratulations! Great work! Looks like commercial space flight has arrived!
@Nasiar99 lol
303rd…
@Anamnesia I actually have some questions regarding this matter.
If the rocket was visible from aus. how long after launch would it be seen in australian skys?
If viewed from the ground in australia , would it be a large light or a small spec, like a satellite?
when viewed from ground lvl , would the rocket be low , or high in the sky?
If you guys could answer these questions it would clear a few things up for a few for a great deal of people.
thanks for any time spent answering .
cheers
@Daisycutt3r you mean the UFO seen in Australia? can’t be the Falcon 9 since it was seen in Australia and Russia, at the same time… the Falcon 9 is not That big
The launch of the Falcon 9 was a full hour before the first sight of the UFOwhich means that the first stage was already back on earth, and the second stage+dragon (test) capsule were still in LEO
How long before this rocket can carry humans ! And when will SPACE-X have a heavy lift rocket like that of the AresV ?!!!
@NLonDS I know the answers to my questions … I just would really really like spacevidcast. to comment .. as well no one is listening , and to hear it from the horses mouth would be a great help.
@kurt30001 About three years, say SpaceX. They are building a heavy-lift version of the Falcon 9 called the Falcon 9 Heavy (they weren’t feeling too imaginative when they named it).
It would have two extra Falcon 9 1st stages act as boosters so you would have the normal Falcon 9 1st stage with two more one on either side, giving you 27 engines on the 1st stage and the same 2nd stage as the normal Falcon 9 (1xMerlin 1C engine). It will be able to lift up to 32,000 kg to LEO or 19,500 kg to GTO.
For some info on the Falcon 9 “UFO” check badastronomy blog. Just google “badastronomy falcon ufo”.
@NLonDS thanks
@Daisycutt3r Google is your friend! Try; ufo eastern australia
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Spacevidcast, Jennifer Cuellar and astrogerly, Rutvi Gohil. Rutvi Gohil said: RT @Spacevidcast: The first SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Flight http://bit.ly/93jdxx [...]
This launch is more about how NASA can do business in the future. NASA works on a cost + plus model with their contractors. NASA pay the “contractors cost” plus a % for profit. The contractors can not lose money.
SpaceX charges a fixed amount per launch. They are not going to waste $.
Example, SpaceX laid some railroad track and made a simple lunch tower.
NASA spent $500 million on the Ares 1 “launch tower” alone. Why because they make more if they spend more or your tax dollars!
2:02 A bug? LOL
@jim6584
Safety is far more important. And the Ares I a far more powerful rocket.
Launching a human crew will be far more difficult than this launch as it will need
a launch abort system. More cost, More TAX dollars. I just don’t see this space craft inspiring generations of Americans for decades like the Apollo or the Shuttle did. I mean ….Look at it…..its a flying Mailing Tube.
@Kapitananime
Falcon 9 is light years safer than Ares in every way! Ares only carries 5 people (even know its the size and cost of Saturn V). Falcon 9 carries 7 people at a fraction of the cost because its not made by Lockeed. Basically, we can take 48-64 people to space with Falcon9 vs 5 people with Ares 1at the same cost and falcon9 is a much safer system.
If the US used Falcon9 to carry people to space as a Soyuz counter part. We could launch 3 times a month vs 3 times a year with Shuttle or Ares.
This is so much better than Ares1. Safer, carries more people, and fraction of the cost. I am sure Lockheed Martin will be using all its lobbying power to stop this.
@Kapitananime
Falcon 9 is light years safer than Ares1 in every way. Ares 1 carries 3 less people than falcon9. Ares 1 has to be heavy lift rocket because it uses solid rocket fuel and it needs a gigantic escape system to have a remote chance of surviving a solid rocket fuel explosion. Falcon 9 does not use solid rocket fuel.
Did they say New Hampshire station?
It was a wild, amazing day. It seems the Falcon 9 folks are very flexible, we didn’t expect them to go for a second try – and they proved me very wrong. I hope you guys enjoy the article/images when it gets posted – I was the only person at the NASA press site to get an interview with the PAO present!
Great launch!
@ti994apc
I think the Dragon only carries 4 people and the Ares 1 is nowhere near the size of a Saturn V (maybe in height).
To Infinity, and Beyond!!!
@oisiaa
Dragon will be able to carry 7 people : )
@Kapitananime
Where do I begin?
Ares had performance shortfalls. It is for that reason that Orion’s capability to land on land was stripped away. It was considered to be too heavy for Ares 1.
Ares 1 had so far cost $9 billion to make and they hadn’t even made the second stage much less reach orbit. Falcon 9 development cost has been $250 million (someone fact check me on that one.)
Falcon 9 is also NOT funded by the government therefore does not place the burden on the tax payer.
@Kapitananime
True….. spacex has won contracts for NASA… but that is very different from NASA footing the bill for development.
The falcon 9 is also the first truly 21st century American rocket, rather than technology used from the 50s-70s. There are a large number of innovations such as using the same engines on both stages in order to cut development costs AND it will be a fully reusable launch vehicle.
hopefully this will clear some of your misconceptions.
Looks like the roll control actuator failed – it’s always the cheap(er) parts
Still, 99.5% of what they needed to do and then some, so a very good launch. Senators Hutchinson and Shelby can now put on their propeller beanies, go sit in the corner and shut the hell up.
“Less cheering on Net A Please” Classic
Jason,
SpaceX has a PAO?!? (tongue in cheek) Are they forthcoming with any info on how many people were watching the webcast?
we need to inspire more company’s to do this type of thing and prehaps see better development. Becuase i thinks there would be a lot better craft made than what has been made in ten years than we have seen since the 1070′s space program by government bodies.
@Kapitananime Well that show how little you know about rockets. Keep your shithead buried in anime and stop worrying about safety and spending more tax dollars. I hope you the end of the line of your lineage of shitheads.
@pacificguitarist
Fully reusable? I’ll “fact check” you on that one. I love the Falcon 9, but even Elon Musk seems dubious as to whether they can reuse the SECOND stage. Try taking a piece of that hardware that size and slowing it down, landing it, recovering it, and refurbishing. It’s several orders of magnitude more expensive than just reusing the first stage. Does anybody know if they recovered the F9 first stage?
UGH. I kept looking very frequently to find out when they were going to launch and I missed it. joy.
@Kapitananime
Ares I is a big bottle rocket with people on top. The test launch was with four segmented rocket, because the manufacturer did not have combustion instability in five-segment rocket sorted out, not that they had any idea how to do it properly anyway. One of the solutions called out for a mass dampener. Doesn’t THAT sound like a plan, using dead weight to cancel out shortcomings in a flawed concept. I’m glad beyond words to see Ares go. It’s an inefficient death-trap if anything.
@asams10 They recovered pieces of the 1st stage.
The 2nd stage has vertigo.
Besides the fact that Falcon9 being much safer than Ares . Falcon9 is estimated to have a recurring cost of almost $45.8 Million per flight. Ares 1 is estimated to have a recurring cost of almost $1Billion per flight.
@ti994apc
No. The Orion has a planned capacity of 6 and an emergency of 8. The Dragon capsule has not been built and Space X has a long way to go before it LEARNS
the reality of running a manned space program at a PROFIT.
@pacificguitarist
Its reusable first stage did not survive this launch. So it has yet to prove that feature.
Space X is using government funds and they are long way from a MAN RATED space craft and Rocket.
@asams10
They have not. The first stage broke up on its way down.
@kurt30001
They suspect a 3 years gap before Space X can launch a manned space craft.
Space X has no plans on building a HLV like the Ares V.
ppsst! it’s LEAKING!
Congrats!
@Kapitananime
The Dragon was designed from the start to me man rated.
@ti994apc
It has no escape system and is months away from that. The Falcon 9 is not man rated.
@Kapitananime Falcon 9 is designed to be eventually man-rated. Right now, it is to be used for the unmanned (but pressurized) Dragon cargo COTS missions to the International Space Station. As such, it does not need any crew escape system. Once a number of flights have been made and the Falcon 9 has proved itself, the manned version of Dragon *with a crew escape system* is expected to be finalized and eventually used to ferry people into orbit.
@Kapitananime
It is suppose to “eventually” be reusable. This is only a demo flight.
NASA Ares1 “dangerous”, only holds 4 Astronauts, 1 billion per flight.
Falcon 9 “safe”, will hold 7 Astronauts, 48 million per flight.
Lets do the math: we can launch almost “147″ Astronauts for the price of “4″ Astronauts with the dangerous Ares 1.
@Kapitananime
Wrong. you can read it right of nasa’s web sight: nasawatch. com/archives/2009/04/orion-slims-down. html
The Orion crew capsule will ONLY HOLD 4 astronauts.
@pacificguitarist
Prove that. I have not read any data on that number.
It was a beautiful launch and a great flight. I really enjoyed seeing it live. Just those idiots with their boats. Jeez!
Curious how this will work out on the long run.
This is the rocket that was soposed to be responceable for the spiral seen in aystralia 1 hour later….how fast does it go,from what i worked out it went 15000 km in that hour to be above Australia,12 times the speed of sound….?
Was absolutely awesome seeing this live….Well worth the sunburn!
@Kapitananime
It is actually years away from a launch escape system. Qualifying those systems takes a long, long time.
However, you are mistaken about the man-rating. Insofar as NASA has actually defined what ‘man-rated’ means, Falcon 9 meets those specifications.
@rrmert
The velocity in low Earth orbit is about 28,000 km/hour, however, the first 9 minutes of the flight involve getting up to that speed.
The spiral and bright light was visible over central nsw at 5:45am, only a few minutes after blast off.
did I hear a guy screaming “FUUUCKK MEEEEE!!!” in the background??