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Elon Musk Says Successful Maiden Flight for Falcon Heavy Unlikely

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday July 20 2017, @06:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the it-IS-rocket-science dept.

martyb writes:

Speaking at the International Space Station Research and Development conference, Elon Musk said that a successful maiden flight for Falcon Heavy was unlikely:

SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has downplayed the chances of a successful inaugural flight for his Falcon Heavy space launch vehicle, admitting there is a "good chance it would not make it to orbit in its first launch."

Development of the booster rocket, which is powered by 27 engines, has proven to be "way harder than the team initially thought," he told the International Space Station Research and Development conference on Wednesday.

Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket booster in the world, capable of delivering a 54 ton payload into orbit.

Musk said that combining three Falcon 9 rockets together had multiplied vibrations throughout the vehicle making it difficult to test without a launch.

The maiden test flight is due to take place toward the end of the year.

As if watching the inaugural launch of the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V were not tempting enough, how many more people will watch in hopes of seeing it go BOOM!?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 21 2017, @02:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 21 2017, @02:56AM (#542155)
    The Apollo astronauts had even weaker assurances of safety, as I recall. No shortage of applicants there. Who the hell wouldn't have wanted to have a shot at being among the first to fly to the moon, even if it meant a high chance of death?