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Falcon 9 falters for now

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At T-minus 2 seconds the all-rocket test fire of Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket was aborted. Although, looking at the pictures you’d be forgiven for thinking that a firing had happened – but those flames are from jet fuel burning off on the platform.

This was to be the first static test of all 9 Merlin engines at once. This ‘hot fire’ is an important milestone for the company, based in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX will service the International Space Station for NASA once the Shuttle retires.

The next attempted test will be in three or four days, SpaceX spokesperson Emily Shanklin says. “Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day to get a good look at the rocket before trying again. Everything looks great at first glance,” she said in a statement. The test abort was triggered because of a problem with the spin start system.

SpaceX’s first rocket, Falcon 1 failed on launch three times before its successful liftoff in September 2008. Falcon 9’s inaugural flight is touted to be attemtped in the next few months.


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Images: SpaceX

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