SpaceX says rocket launches could resume as soon as November

[TexasTowelie]

SpaceX said it expects to resume launches as soon as November, avoiding a lengthy delay after its Sept. 1 launch pad explosion grounded flights and destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and a communications satellite.

Speaking at a satellite business conference in Paris, President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said the Hawthorne company is “anticipating getting back to flight -- being down for about three months -- and getting back to flight in the November time frame,” according to Bloomberg.

“We’ll obviously take another look at the rocket, focus on the ground systems,” she said. SpaceX is still trying to determine the cause of the explosion and said it is continuing to “thoroughly investigate.”

Last week, SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted that the fiery explosion was turning out to be the “most difficult and complex failure” in company history. The investigation into the cause of the explosion is ongoing.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-shotwell-20160913-snap-story.html

[longship]

1. I have a problem putting those two statements together and ending up with anything rational.

Resume launches in November.

Most difficult and complex failure.

Until one finds out how this failed, one should should not be resuming launches.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I agree that they are being hasty in their effort to resume launches.

The profit motive becomes a problem when services are shifted to from the public to the private sector. I don't see where any insurance company would be willing to underwrite a satellite mission without determining the underlying cause of the earlier incident and deciding what corrective action needs to be taken.

[longship]

3. I honestly do not think that Musk would put profits over safety.

First, as any of the astronauts would tell one, going to space is inherently fucking dangerous. And yes, rockets sometimes explode.

Second, I think that return to flight may be premature because when a rocket explodes on a launch pad, that's a serious issue. Especially during a static test, which should be a routine matter. It would be a very bad thing to find out that there was a problem if the rocket exploded every time there was a problem. One would really hate to find out that all problems were fatal.

They are going to have to diagnose this before they try again. The Apollo 1 fire set back the program over a year. I am very interested in what SpaceX will do in response to this.

We will see.

[goldent]

5. I agree he wouldn't put profits over safety.

But he wants SpaceX to move forward, and it is peronal. So I think he would tend to put that over safety.

[Red Mountain]

4. Other than SpaceX

who has done or does static launch tests?