SpaceX launch officials initially set a four-hour launch window for todayÂ’s Falcon 1 flight.
Poor weather caused a one-hour delay early in the countdown, though an incorrectly set valve on a liquid oxygen fuel fill tank led to a longer hiatus that eventually prompted SpaceX officials to extend their launch window.
But the loss of liquid oxygen – which boils away during launch preparations and must be replenished regularly – was too great, SpaceX officials said, adding that a main engine computer glitch also caused enough concern to reschedule the mission. (link)
I've been delaying a response to this whole situation for a day now. I guess somewhere in the back of my head I must've been figuring I could will Falcon to magically take off from the launch pad in spite of every sense of reality that I have.
First the flight was scheduled for Friday. Excitement builds in anticipation of a launch that could spur a radical reduction in the costs of rocket launches. Then a delay. A little annoyance, and a lot of bubble bursting. Now an seemingly extravagant delay to mid-December.
I guess I'm going through Falcon withdrawal. Maybe deep down I was having fantasies about Elon Munsk blasting his behind into the cold dark unknown like Buck Rogers an average run of the mill day. Of course it'll probably take decades for routine commercial space travel to start happening. And this flight wasn't going to be taking Elon Munsk nowhere, but stupid humans have a way of getting ahead of themselves... And somewhere in my subconscious I'm betting I was getting way to far ahead myself.
Now that the jolt of reality has snapped some sense into me you'd figure I stop with the dreaming and move on... Why is it all I can think about is an early Christmas present in mid-December? Do I need help?
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