Return to flight findings coming; Falcon 9 tooling 90% done
- From:
- Elon Musk
- Date:
- July 6, 2006 (Headed 'July 6, 2006 Update'; reposted on the Space.com forum the same day.)
- To:
- SpaceX update mailing list
- Subject:
- July 6, 2006 Update
July 6, 2006 Update
My apologies for the long delay in providing an update. Between the Falcon 1 return to flight, Falcon 9 development and the NASA COTS program, this has been an inordinately busy period for SpaceX.
I will post the findings of the DARPA/SpaceX Return to Flight Board on the SpaceX website in about two weeks. The final meeting of the board was last week and the results will be posted after the DARPA senior leadership is briefed.
No major surprises were uncovered in the course of the investigation, so perhaps more interesting is the broader set of design & process improvements that constitute "Falcon 1.1". I will post whatever I can, excluding only proprietary or ITAR restricted information.
At the end of July, I will post a detailed update on Falcon 9. We've made a tremendous amount of progress on that front. Except for the fairing (nosecone), we are 90% done with all the manufacturing tooling and should have serial number 1 of the first stage built within three to four months. We are targeting a stage hold down, multi-engine firing in about six months.
On the business front, SpaceX now has ten launches on manifest and is on track to be cash flow positive in 2006, our fourth full year of operation.
---Elon