Falcon 1

Information

Falcon 1 was developed by SpaceX as an expendable launch vehicle to support the small launch market. It also served as a proof of concept for the larger Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 1 was originally intended to utilise SLC-3W at Vandenburg Space Force Base and while static fire testing of Falcon 1 was conducted at Vandenburg, plans for launches fell through causing SpaceX to pivot to a site at Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands from which the first launch of Falcon 1 took off in March 2006. All five Falcon 1 launches were conducted from Omelek Island – the first three of which resulted in failure. These three consecutive failures brought SpaceX to the brink of bankruptcy. SpaceX were able to make use of spare parts to build a fourth Falcon 1 rocket which successfully launched in September 2008. The launch was successful, and Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit. Following flight 4, SpaceX launched the fifth and only commercial Falcon 1 in July 2009. Following this flight, all upcoming Falcon 1 launches were postponed and eventually shifted to other launch vehicles as SpaceX announced they would not be proceeding with the Falcon 1 program as it was not viable as a business. Resources were moved to the Falcon 9 program and Omelek Island has not been used for an orbital launch since.