Erik Nordeus - The Engineer

To test the rockets, SpaceX needed a test facility. They couldn’t test rocket engines in downtown Los Angeles. Just south of Dallas, in McGregor, Texas, they found a perfect facility. SpaceX bought the site from the Texas banker Andrew Beal, whose own rocket company, Beal Aerospace, had used the site.

In 2000, Beal shut down Beal Aerospace because it was too difficult for a private company to compete with the governmental subsidies of NASA. He explained that the problems for space entrepreneurs are more political than technical. Elon agreed with him. “The Pentagon’s preferred approach is to do long-term, ‘sole-source’ contracts – which means to lock up the entire business for one company,” Elon said. “We’ve been trying to bid on the primary Air Force launch contract, but it’s nearly impossible, because United Launch Alliance, co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, currently has an exclusive contract with the Air Force for satellite launch. It’s totally inappropriate. Even though we would save the taxpayers at least a billion dollars a year – and that’s a conservative estimate.” 305

SpaceX assemble all Merlin engines in Los Angeles and test-fire them in Texas. One part of the test involves feeding a stainless steel nut into the fuel and oxidizer lines while the engine is running. Another test is performed on the launch pad and yet another just before liftoff. For a while after the engines are ignited, the rocket can’t ascend because it’s held down by clamps so Falcon’s computers can analyze the engine performance. When everything looks good, the clamps are released and the rocket can fly away. 288

To avoid the risk of getting loose nuts in the engines, SpaceX minimized the number of parts in each rocket. “They’ve designed a solution, but it’s not a good solution, because it’s got several hundred parts,” Elon said about an early design of a propellant tank. “If any of those pieces shake loose, they’ll get stuck and choke the engine. And that will really suck.” 71

SpaceX designed Falcon 1 to deliver a payload of 1000 kg into low Earth orbit, which is the space below an altitude of 1200 miles [2000 km] and above 99 miles [160 km]. The rocket could also deliver a lighter payload beyond low Earth orbit into cislunar space, which is the space between the Earth and the Moon. Cislunar is Latin for “on this side of the moon” but also “not beyond the moon.” Beyond the cislunar space is the translunar space. 280,380Launching a rocket to low Earth orbit is the most common altitude. It’s where the International Space Station circulates at a height of 250 miles [400 km], and it’s where the majority of the satellites are.

Like a new car, SpaceX unveiled the Falcon 1 just outside of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. SpaceX brought the entire seven-story high rocket together with its mobile launch system. This was in December 2003, so the event coincided with the first flight of the first aircraft, which flew for the first time in December 1903. Falcon 1’s maiden voyage should have coincided with the 100th anniversary of this first flight, but due to delays, the rocket had not yet launched.

Elon made a statement during this event. “We’re very proud to debut this vehicle, and do so here in DC,” Elon said. “Another thing I want to do here is to announce what the follow-on is to the Falcon, called the Falcon 5. Falcon 5 will be the first US launch vehicle with true engine-out capability in over three decades, since the Saturn V. We can have multiple engines fail, depending on the phase of flight, and still have a successful mission. We think that will really have a dramatic improvement in the reliability of access to space.” 312

SpaceX decided to launch Falcon 1 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. They leased a launch pad from the Air Force, transported the rocket to the launch site, got the rocket in place, and they test-fired it. They were ready. But they were not allowed to launch. The Falcon 1 would fly over a Titan IV rocket with a billion dollar payload, so there was a small risk the Falcon 1 could destroy the Titan IV if something happened after the launch. “It’s like you build your house… somebody else builds a house next to you and tells you to get out of your house. Like, what the hell… after we’ve made that big investment and everything,” Elon shouted and decided to find another launch site. 301,365

You can find a picture of Elon where he holds a white cat. Like a James Bond villain, SpaceX decided to launch the Falcon 1 from one of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific, 2100 miles [3400 km] southwest from Hawaii. The name of the launch site is the Reagan Test Site at the Omelek Island, which is a part of the Kwajalein Atoll. Known as the Execution Island during the Second World War, the atoll is today often called just Kwaj. The area is military ground. You can see a large concrete building previously used as a target for laser beams from space, and a part of the atoll is a target for testing missiles launched from the US mainland.

Several visitors attended the first launch. You could see representatives from government agencies and corporations. Someone who also visited the launch was Elon’s brother Kimbal. He said that physics is fun, but Elon suspected what his brother really liked was to visit exotic islands in the south pacific and fly Huey helicopters.

The island leased by SpaceX used to be a launch pad during the Cold War. When SpaceX arrived to the island, they had to cut down the overgrown bushes and trees. Then they poured concrete to build a launch pad. 284

They were ready to launch Falcon 1. Due to safety reasons, the drawback with this launch site was that the launch pad wasn’t on the same island as where the SpaceXers were. When sensors on the rocket detected a glitch, the launch team had to make a 20-minute boat trip to fix the problem. SpaceX hadn’t anticipated this delay, so they hadn’t stockpiled enough liquid oxygen on the island. Liquid oxygen is used as a fuel component and to cool the rocket’s helium supply. The launch had to be postponed until they could import more liquid oxygen from Hawaii. 301

Another problem occurred when they discovered that not all rocket components were operating properly. The malfunctioned components needed to be upgraded. While the rest of the team tried to find a supplier who hadn’t closed on a Sunday, a SpaceXer took a plane from Kwaj back to SpaceX in Los Angeles. They found a supplier in Minnesota, so an intern from SpaceX in Los Angeles had to fly there to get the components. The intern got back to Los Angeles where they tested the new parts before they flew them to Kwaj. “The SpaceX launch team in Kwaj is less than 30 people,” Kimbal said. “When another rocket company launches in Kwaj, they bring 300 people. What they do is beyond us.” 283

When the rocket finally launched in March 2006, it flew for 33 seconds before the flight ended abruptly. The load, an experimental satellite from the US Air Force Academy, came crashing down through the roof of SpaceX’s machine shop, landing mostly intact on the floor. 281“Everyone was cheering,” Mueller said. “But my engine went on fire. It burned through the wires, and the data was terrible. 33 seconds in, it flamed out and Falcon fell a mile back onto the reef. We lost everything, all data, everything. There was the jubilation of it lifting off and the agony of it crashing. It was a pretty unpleasant time to be hanging with Elon.” 278

SpaceX released an official video showing the crash. It’s possible to see how the white rocket begins to turn due to a fuel leak, before it finally crashed on a reef close to the launch site. To figure out what went wrong, Elon and his team had to spend the rest of the day collecting scattered pieces of the rocket. “I was picking up bits of rocket at the launch site,” Elon said. 63After several months, the SpaceX engineers determined a corroded nut had permitted fuel to leak, the fuel caught fire, and the rest is history.