Space X Falcon 1 (Flight 4)

Video from the channel SpaceFlightVideos about Falcon 1, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:59. Language: English. Video type: Launch.

The video shows the broadcast of the fourth flight of SpaceX's Falcon 1, with footage taken from the rocket and commentary from mission control.

After the countdown and liftoff, the Falcon 1 clears the tower, begins the gravity turn and passes maximum dynamic pressure. The commentator explains that the engine flame widens and darkens as it climbs into increasingly thin air. At two minutes, the vehicle is traveling at 1,700 m/s at an altitude of 50 km. After the main engine cutoff and a five-second pause, the stages separate and the second stage's Kestrel engine ignites, expected to run for more than six minutes. The video shows Earth's limb, the payload fairing separation and the Kestrel nozzle glowing a dull red. Telemetry marks the progress: around 3,000 m/s and 200 km at four minutes, 3,200 m/s and 253 km at five, 3,600 m/s and 290 km at six, and 5,200 m/s at 328 km near the end.

Signal is lost shortly before the end of the burn, something the commentator considers expected. Around nine and a half minutes, second-stage shutdown is confirmed at the planned time, and with it the Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach Earth orbit from the ground.