SpaceX Scrubs Maiden Flight of Falcon 1 Rocket

SpaceX officials called off the inaugural flight of their Falcon 1 rocket Saturday after a launch countdown beleaguered by poor weather, an engine computer glitch and liquid oxygen fill tank problems.

SpaceX is using Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site to send up FalconSat 2, a satellite built by the U.S. Air Force Academy as part of a program to monitor the effect of space plasma on satellite communications systems. The project is being funded by the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

The Pacific launch area is also used for tests of the Pentagon’s National Missile Defense System. In fact, SpaceX’s big event had been postponed for 24 hours, due to the Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s need to prepare for the unrelated launch of a missile defense test vehicle.

The launch was delayed for several hours yesterday and then finally canceled after it was discovered that a vent for a liquid oxygen tank had been left open, the company said.

The liquid was used to cool helium required for the flight and by the time the problem was corrected too much helium and liquid oxygen had been lost for an immediate flight, SpaceX said.

SpaceX’s founder, software millionaire Elon Musk, says he has invested about $100 million over the past three years or so to get his company to this point — and he cautioned reporters a week ago that the Falcon 1 launch wouldn’t necessary go off right on time. The rocket’s readiness, rather than a calendar date, would determine when the first launch would take place, he said.