Repaired
SpaceX rocket to fly by early December, company says
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[October 14, 2015]
By Irene Klotz
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Space Exploration
Technologies, or SpaceX, expects to return a repaired and upgraded
Falcon 9 rocket to flight around the start of December, a company vice
president said, less than six months after one exploded shortly after
liftoff.
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The 208-foot-tall (63-meter) rocket carrying cargo for the
International Space Station exploded less than three minutes after
liftoff from Florida on June 28.
The cause of the accident was traced to a faulty bracket inside the
rocket’s upper-stage engine. When the steel bracket broke, a bottle
of high-pressure helium was released, causing the engine to
over-pressurise and explode.
"We believe in the next six to eight weeks we’ll be able to return
to flight," Lee Rosen, SpaceX vice president of mission and launch
operations, said on Tuesday at the International Astronautical
Congress under way this week in Jerusalem.
The Falcon 9, which failed after 18 successful flights, will carry a
communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES SA.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Oct/14/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_festivals_2015.png) Privately owned SpaceX is also expected to attempt to land the
rocket’s first-stage on a platform in the ocean after the
second-stage takes over to deliver the SES satellite into orbit.
To try to achieve that, California-based SpaceX will use a more
powerful version of the Falcon 9 than it has flown previously.
SpaceX wants to return its rockets so they can be refurbished and
reflown, slashing launch costs.
"Things are coming along nicely with the upgraded version of the
vehicle and we’re prepared to get back at this,” Rosen said.
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SpaceX intends to submit its first bid for a U.S. military launch
contract before it returns to flight.
It is expected to compete to fly a next-generation U.S. Global
Positioning System satellite. If it wins, the company will break a
monopoly on the military’s launch business held by United Launch
Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed-Martin and Boeing.
Bids for the GPS 3 launch are due on Nov. 16.
(This story has been corrected to remove reference to SpacePharma
satellite, which is due to go on a later flight, in paragraphs 5 and
6.)
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Alison Williams and Janet
Lawrence)
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