SpaceX says human error doomed rocket
Musk said the mistake was made by “one of our most experienced pad technicians” but declined to provide further details on the error, saying he did not want to get ahead of an ongoing launch failure investigation SpaceX is conducting with the Pentagon, its customer for the mission.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the pad technician had been working on the rocket?s avionics the night before launch and failed to tighten a tiny fuel pipe fitting that had been loosened in order to perform the avionics work.
Interestingly, this Space.com/MSNBC article reports that the Pentagon was “not fazed” by the failure of Falcon 1’s maiden flight. Over at WSJ.com, the story was a bit different (sorry, no link since I read it in the company clip file, but it was probably from Tuesday or Wednesday):
Mr. Musk, the company’s founder and chairman, said he already has spent about $100 million of his own money, and if necessary, is prepared to double that investment by early 2008. But relations between SpaceX and the Air Force, which had been an early supporter of the Falcon effort, have soured. Mr. Musk complained Tuesday that the Air Force’s leadership has become overly cautious when it comes to new rocket technology, saying “the dial may have shifted a little too much to [being] risk-averse.” Without elaborating, Mr. Musk also said some in the Pentagon have a tendency to “cut and run if things don’t go 100%” right when it comes to cutting-edge technology development. Even before the latest difficulties, Air Force support for Mr. Musk’s rocket seemed to be waning. On Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel said, “We certainly are going to look for some success” before considering stepped-up funding for such small rockets.