SpaceX is hasn't ruled out the possibility of a Wednesday Falcon 9 launch pending evaluation of repair options for a cracked upper stage engine nozzle. A NASA news release said the crack measured three inches long. It said SpaceX was considering several options including repairing the crack or shipping a replacement part from California.
The company earlier today estimated the launch would occur no earlier than Thursday, with a slip to Friday or Saturday if the nozzle needed to be replaced. After further analysis, the "no earlier than" date was then advanced to Wednesday.
IMAGE: Today at Launch Complex 40, SpaceX workers investigate a problem with a Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage engine nozzle. Credit: Michael R. Brown, Florida Today.
3 comments:
Have to love the crane and bucket they are using for interstage access. Meanwhile, NASA blows hundreds of millions of dollars building a launch umbilical tower that they dont even have a rocket for! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Gotta love SpaceX's approach! They're true engineers. Do enough to get the job done right, and not a bit more... nice and efficient.
If you look at the early days of the U.S. space program, they used painters' scaffolds, oil derricks, bucket cranes etc. at the launch pad. The fancy service and umbilical towers came later.
Gee,Stephen - NASA got something right the first time?
"-the more they over do the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Scotty - Star Trek III 'The Search for Spock'
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