Falcon 9's first nine M1C test successful

The first test firing of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines. Conducted at the SpaceX test facility in McGregor Texas, the nine Merlins produced nearly 832,000 lbs. of thrust during the test, consuming 3,200 pounds of liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene per second.

SpaceX - MacGregor: Diane Murphy, vice president of SpaceX reports the full nine-engine ful configuration of the Falcon 9 booster, integral to the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) part of US national space policy, has been successfully tested in central Texas.

"This marks the first firing of a Falcon 9 first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines," Murphy said.

"Once a near term Merlin 1C fuel pump upgrade is complete, the sea level thrust will increase to 950,000 lbf, making Falcon 9 the most powerful single core vehicle in the United States."

The successful tests, two months ahead of schedule, challenge "the Gap" worries many experts have expressed about U.S. support of the International Space Station after the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010. SpaceX has now demonstrated a unequivocal capability to make orbit after engine failures.

"We made a major advancement from the previous five engine test by adding four new Merlin engines at once,"” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. “"All phases of integration went smoothly and we were elated to see all nine engines working perfectly in concert."

SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to increase the reliability and reduce the cost of both manned and unmanned space transportation, ultimately by a factor of ten. With its Falcon line of launch vehicles, powered by internally-developed Merlin engines, SpaceX offers light, medium and heavy lift capabilities to deliver spacecraft into any altitude and inclination, from low-Earth orbit to geosynchronous to planetary missions. SpaceX currently has 12 missions on its manifest, excluding the two previous Falcon 1 demonstration flights, plus indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts with NASA and the US Air Force.

As a winner of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition (COTS), SpaceX is in a position to help fill the gap in American spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) when the Space Shuttle retires in 2010.

Under the existing Agreement, SpaceX will conduct three flights of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft for NASA, culminating in Dragon berthing with the ISS. SpaceX is the only COTS contender that has the capability to return cargo and crew to Earth. NASA also has an option to demonstrate crew services to the ISS using the Falcon 9 / Dragon system. SpaceX is the only COTS contender that has the capability to return pressurized cargo and crew to Earth. The first Falcon 9 will arrive at the SpaceX launch site (complex 40) at Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008 in preparation for its maiden flight.

Founded in 2002, the SpaceX team now numbers more than 500 full time employees, primarily located in Hawthorne, California, with four additional locations: SpaceX's Texas Test Facility in McGregor near Waco; offices in Washington DC; and launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the Marshall Islands in the Central Pacific.

A Windows Media Player video of the test can be view HERE.

For full details, visit SpaceX website HERE.