Posted: Wed, Mar 21, 2007, 7:31 AM ET (1131 GMT)
A Falcon 1 rocket lifted off late Tuesday on a test flight that the rocket's developer, SpaceX, declared a success even though the rocket failed to reach orbit. The Falcon 1 lifted off from Omelek Island, part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, at 9:10 pm EDT Tuesday (0110 GMT Wednesday) carrying a test payload. The launch initially went well, but telemetry from the rocket was lost about five minutes after liftoff, during the flight of the rocket's second stage. Company officials said that the rocket experienced a roll control anomaly during the second stage burn which apparently kept the rocket from achieving orbit, although it did fly to an altitude of approximately 300 kilometers. While the root cause of the problem isn't known, SpaceX believes it can be fixed relatively easily and that the flight overall retired 90 percent of the risk associated with the vehicle, including operation of the first stage, stage separation, and payload fairing separation. Tuesday's launch took place about an hour after a previous launch attempt was aborted at T-0 seconds when sensors detected a low chamber pressure in the main engine, caused by colder-than-normal kerosene fuel. SpaceX, which developed the small launch vehicle privately, is not planning to perform another test flight before its first operational mission, the launch of the TacSat 1 experimental satellite for the Defense Department, later this year.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  MSNBC article
•  SPACE.com article
•  New York Times article
•  AP article