Aug 3 2008
From The Space Library
A SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket failed, at approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds after its launch at 03:34 (UT) from the U.S. Army’s Reagan Missile Test Site on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll. SpaceX executives explained that unanticipated residual thrust from the Merlin engine had caused the first stage of the rocket to collide with the second stage, as the second stage began to fire. The rocket’s two stages and its payload were destroyed in the Pacific Ocean. The Falcon 1’s cargo included a Department of Defense Trailblazer demonstration satellite; NASA’s NanoSail- D, a solar propulsion experiment; and NASA’s small automated laboratory PRESat. Additionally, the rocket carried the ashes of 208 people who had paid the company Celestis to launch their remains into space. The ashes of astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr. were on board. SpaceX officials stated that they would be able to prevent a similar launch failure from happening in the future by adding 1.5 seconds to the Falcon 1’s separation sequence.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 658, 1 September 2008, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx658.html (accessed 8 July 2011); John Schwartz, “Launch of Private Rocket Fails; Three Satellites Were Onboard,” New York Times, 4 August 2008; Tariq Malik, “SpaceX Traces Third Rocket Failure to Timing Error,” Space.com, 7 August 2008, http://www.space.com/5707-spacex-traces-rocket-failure-timing-error.html (accessed 21 July 2011).
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