Window Open Through August 5

ANN REALTIME REPORTING 08.02.08 2300 EDT: "T-Minus Zero... ABORT." It came down to the final moments, but SpaceX has aborted the planned launch of its third Falcon I mission.

Mission control is currently assessing the reason for the launch abort. ANN will provide more details as they become available.

Original Report

1830 EDT: After a 16-month hiatus, Space Exploration Technologies plans to try again and launch its Falcon 1 rocket sometime Saturday evening.

The launch window for the Falcon 1 FLight 3 mission will open at 1600 PDT/ 1900 EDT, and remain open for five hours. If launch is delayed for any reason, SpaceX has range availability to resume countdown through August 5.

Lift-off of the vehicle will occur from SpaceX's Falcon 1 launch site at the Kwajalein Atoll, about 2500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Falcon 1 launch facilities are situated on Omelek Island, part of the Reagan Test Site (RTS) at United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific.

Designed from the ground up by SpaceX at headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, Falcon 1 is a two-stage, liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene powered launch vehicle. The first stage is powered by a single SpaceX Merlin 1C Regenerative engine flying for the first time on this Flight 3 mission. A hold before liftoff system enhances reliability by permitting all systems to be verified as functioning nominally before launch is initiated. The Falcon 1 second stage is powered by a single SpaceX Kestrel engine.

Falcon 1 is the first new orbital rocket in more than a decade... and has yet to complete a 100% percent successful mission. After a fuel leak doomed the first launch at T+29 seconds in March 2006, the company's second launch attempt one year later was nominal through the firing of the Falcon's second-stage. A progressive oscillation began in the later stages of the burn, however, which led the second stage engine to stop burning just short of orbital altitude.

Hopefully, for the company, third time will be the charm. Upon its achieving orbit, Falcon 1 will be the first privately developed, liquid fuel rocket ever to orbit the Earth.

The primary customers for the Falcon 1 launch are the Department of Defense, the Malaysian Government, and NASA. Falcon 1 is carrying a payload stack of three separating satellites that will orbit at an inclination of 9 degrees.

FMI: www.spacex.com