Launching a Truck Into Space 146
engineers determined a corroded nut had permitted fuel to
leak, the fuel caught fire, and the rest is history.
The second launch was supposed to happen in January
2007, but was delayed until March 2007. Falcon 1 flew to
an altitude of 180 miles [290 km], before it failed to reach
orbit. It’s possible to see on the launch video how, after
2 minutes and 50 seconds, the rocket separates as it was
supposed to, and how the first stage falls back to Earth. The
first stage could never be found again due to a broken GPS
transmitter. The reason why Falcon 1 failed this time was
that an engine had stopped 90 seconds too early.