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Falcon 1 lost due to fuel leak

Bad Astronomy
By Phil Plait
Mar 26, 2006 5:57 AMNov 5, 2019 12:33 AM

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'The SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket was lost after launch due to a fuel leak from an as-yet undetermined problem. However, even right after launch the leak is pretty obvious:

29 seconds after launch the engine shut down automatically. The rocket went up due its momentum for a short time, then fell back to Earth... landing just 250 feet from the launch pad! Bummer. Amazing, but a bummer. The good news is it fell on a reef offshore, so the rocket parts can be recovered and examined. SpaceX has already said they will forge onward. I say good for them! Incidentally, the satellite the rocket was lofting fell through the roof of a nearby machine shop when it came down. Scary (I mean, yikes!), but that means they can recover it, too. I doubt they can fix it; it fell from a long way up. Not exactly orbit, but enough that it may not be salvageable. We'll know more soon.'

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