SpaceX Launch Failure

The maiden launch of the Falcon I cleared the tower, but was lost moments later.  Early, unconfirmed observations from the webcast suggest that the propulsion system failed, after which the rocket started rolling.  The webcast was lost soon after.  Here is one of the last images in the webcast from inside the rocket, which shows the rocket rolling.

SpaceX issued the following statement:  "We had a successful liftoff and Falcon made it well clear of the pad, but unfortunately the vehicle was lost in the first stage burn.  More information will be posted once we have had time to analyze the problem."

Unfortunately, failure is a sizeable part of the space business, and it is a shame that SpaceX has to take its share of lumps.  However, the history of the industry suggests that SpaceX will be able to do a successful launch one of these attempts.  The solution is persistence.

Comments

[Lutz Kayser]

Dan:"It is a shame that SpaceX has to take its share of lumps"
Actually it is a shame that a bunch of "rocket specialists" convinced a well intented investor to built a flimsy copy of Blockmart's glittery technology. It is irresponsible to try to fly an all-up vehicle without any suborbital first stage tests and concurrently build a 9-engine monster.

Hope and hype are no substitute for serious rocket research and development. Beal, Kistler, Musk, Bezos, Page, and other angel investors should not be dragged into such expensive adventures without proper advice how to build modular low-cost rocket propulsion
that has a demonstrated confidence level.

[Daniel Schmelzer]

I have a lot of sympathy for the approach that you advocate. Soon, we may see something interesting from the likes of John Carmack that are roughly along these lines.

However, I don't think Musk could well be described as an angel investor. He is lead engineer on the Falcon and his investment is at-risk. Despite this setback, he has a business case for the Falcon that will probably close successfully. It may only be an incremental improvement overall, but that's of at least modest value to us. The risk-taking should be respected and praised.