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FIRST SPACEX FALCON ROCKET ELEVATED AT VANDENBERG
Aviation Week & Space Technology
10/11/2004, page 36
By Craig Covault

Elevation of first SpaceX Falcon at Vandenberg marks another commercial space milestone

In another major commercial step to attack the "high-cost culture" of the U.S. launch industry, the first privately financed SpaceX Falcon low-cost orbital-mission booster has been mounted on its pad for checkout at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

The 70-ft. vehicle is being prepared to loft a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory imaging spacecraft into orbit by early 2005.

Unlike the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne manned suborbital program, the Falcon I project is designed to develop low-cost launch technologies and, from its first mission, carry useful payloads into orbit (AW&ST Mar. 29, p. 48). But unlike SpaceShipOne, Falcon has not yet proved itself. Four customers, including the Navy, have placed deposits to reserve missions.

The Falcon I is specifically designed to place up to 1,500-lb. spacecraft into orbit for $5.9 million--about 50% less than existing systems. The vehicle was transported from the SpaceX plant in El Segundo, Calif., on board its erector trailer, which elevated it vertically onto Space Launch Complex SLC-3 East (above), a former Atlas II pad. [Corrective note from SpaceX: The SpaceX launch pad at Vandenberg is Space Launch Complex SLC-3 West.]

Notable Falcon I design features visible include the darker colored, lightweight carbon-fiber interstage section between the first and second stages and an ablative coating on the tip of the nose fairing to dissipate ascent aerodynamic heating.

Another major feature is a 75-ft.-dia. parachute mounted in the first stage to lower it into the Pacific Ocean as a demonstration of stage reusability.

Completion of the first flight vehicle at SpaceX is "a huge milestone for our company and the result of a monumental effort" by the SpaceX personnel, said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The initial flight is now planned by late January after final engine qualification tests in Texas and Vandenberg's completion of non-Falcon-related Western Range modifications in December.

SpaceX is also working to bring on line the much larger Falcon V vehicle to compete against the $50-million Boeing Delta II and $80-million Boeing Delta IV.

Falcon Vs would launch 5-ton payloads into low-Earth orbit for just $12 million, and a similar mass into geosynchronous transfer orbit for $20 million. This would be more than a 50% savings over the Boeing vehicles for geosynchronous missions. SpaceX and Pratt & Whitney have also discussed integration of the Pratt RL10 upper stage engine with the Falcon V vehicle for these flights.

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