Actually, Brownsville Texas is further south than Cape Canaveral, but not enough to make a significant difference in orbital dynamics. Everybody, except Russia, has their launch facility adjacent to an ocean for safety reasons. And even the Russians are building a new launch facility on their Pacific coast. Maybe the Gulf of Mexico is big enough to keep failed launches from Texas from impacting land areas but I doubt it.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

The Russians have always been willing to take more risks than NASA concerning launch safety. Even their new facility won't be right next to the sea.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

ESA has built a Soyuz launch facility in Kourou, French Guinea.
Tullio

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Tullio French Guinea makes since like , the 1 they launch at sea on the Equator , to take advantage of the spin of the planet .

Anywhere on the or close to the equator is smart outside of the equitorial area dumb

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That's really unfortunate, but not totally unexpected that they would encounter a few launch failures. They have been very lucky so far.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

At least they know that the self-destruct system works.

Cheers.

At least they know that the self-destruct system works.

Cheers.

Y-e-e-s :) all by itself...

Let's just hope the self destruct mechanism had a reason to do so.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Let's just hope the self destruct mechanism had a reason to do so.

It did apparently,

http://www.dailytech.com/SpaceX+Falcon+9R+Rocket+Suffers+Malfunction+SelfDestructs+During+Test+Flight/article36442.htm.

The SpaceX team suffered a setback yesterday when its experimental Falcon 9-R (F9R) reusable rocket experienced a malfunction during a test flight in Texas. According to SpaceX, an “anomaly was detected” during the test flight, and as a result, the flight was auto-aborted and the rocket F9R was instructed to self-destruct.

Cheers.

I hope they were able to determine the exact cause of the malfunction. I know Mr. Musk has deep pockets but rockets are very expensive and investors could vanish rapidly if the failure rate escalates. But only one major failure at this point shouldn't cause a critical setback.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

SpaceX launches 3-D printer, other station gear

A SpaceX cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday, carrying the first 3-D printer for astronauts in orbit. n all, the unmanned Dragon capsule is delivering more than 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms) of space station supplies for NASA.
Dragon should reach the space station Tuesday. It's the fifth station shipment for the California-based SpaceX, one of two new commercial winners in the race to start launching Americans again from home soil.
The space station was soaring over the South Pacific when the SpaceX Falcon 9 thundered into Florida's pre-dawn sky. Sunday's weather was ideal for flying, unlike Saturday, when rain forced a delay. The rocket was visible for nearly three minutes as it sped out over the Atlantic, with the Orion constellation as a backdrop.

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rOZZ
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Thanks Julie i wonder what the first thing they are going to make with it .

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