Falcon 1, take 3: today at 4:00 Pacific time!

Stay updated with the latest Space X updates on the Falcon 1 rocket's launch challenges and future plans.

Written byPhil Plait
| 1 min read
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Final update on this post (11:30 MT): Elon Musk has a statement on the Space X updates page confirming the loss of the rocket due to a staging malfunction. Bummer. He goes on to say that they will investigate and continue on with the next scheduled flight.

UPDATE 2 (11:16 MT): Reliable word has it that the stages failed to separate, resulting in a loss of the vehicle.

UPDATE (9:43 Mountain time): The launch went off, but a little over a minute in there was a "vehicle anomaly", and the webcam feed cut out. I have no idea if they lost the vehicle or not. Even the Space X website isn't loading (probably too much traffic). I'll post more when I find out. Space X has announced that they will attempt to launch a Falcon 1 rocket into orbit today. The launch window starts at 4:00 Pacific time (23:00 UT). Read more about it at their site, and they also have a live streaming web cam as well! I suggest tuning in about a half hour early (3:30 Pacific) so that you don't miss anything. Just in case, I've embedded the player below as well. Enjoy the launch!

var flashvars = {}; flashvars.File = "http://bglive-a.bitgravity.com/spacex/highquality/native"; flashvars.FileLabel = "High Quality"; flashvars.FileBitrate = "http://bitcast-b.bitgravity.com/player/xmltemplates/1000.xml"; flashvars.FileQuality2 = "http://bglive-a.bitgravity.com/spacex/testing/native"; flashvars.FileQuality2Label = "Standard Quality"; flashvars.FileQuality2Bitrate = "http://bitcast-b.bitgravity.com/player/xmltemplates/500.xml"; flashvars.LogoPNG = "http://bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/spacex/spacex_logo.png"; flashvars.Mode = "live"; flashvars.DefaultRatio = "1.5"; flashvars.ForceRatio = "false"; flashvars.VideoFit = "fill"; flashvars.BufferTime = "1.0"; var params = {}; params.base = "http://bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/player/"; params.allowFullScreen = "true"; params.salign = "lt"; params.scale = "noscale" params.wmode = "transparent"; var attributes = {}; attributes.id = "bitgravity_player_5"; swfobject.embedSWF(lateststable, "bg_player_location", "550", "325", "9.0.0", "http://bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/player/expressInstall.swf", flashvars, params, attributes);

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