Rocket explosion a setback for SpaceX

An unmanned Dragon spacecraft, which was carrying supplies and station docking adaptor and the Falcon 9 rocket propelling it were destroyed in the explosion, causing NASA and the global Space station a “big loss” on Sunday. The SuperDracos fired up as planned, blasting a Dragon test vehicle out over the Atlantic Ocean, into which it made a soft, parachute-aided splashdown.

Just about two minutes after launch, a launch vehicle failure caused the Falcon 9 rocket to break up on ascent.

Including its station cargo runs for Nasa, SpaceX has a backlog of almost 50 missions, worth more than $7bn, including dozens of commercial communications satellites.

“SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first six cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success”, wrote Bolden. Also on board was a piece of hardware that would be used to help two new crew vehicles dock to the station.

The second man to step foot on the Moon, Buzz Aldrin, watched the launching and said “rocket science is hard, so we try try again and again”. Spectators were only treated to two minutes and 19 seconds of the rocket’s flight, before the journey ended in flames.

“After what looked initially looked like the first-stage separation, everything disappeared, it was clear what happened. “.

According to SpaceX founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, the explosion was the result of elevated pressure in the liquid-oxygen tank, which is a component of the rocket’s upper stage. “That’s all we can say with confidence right now”, Musk added.

The private company is in charge of the accident investigation, with oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration, which licensed the flight. Shortly afterward, on Twitter, the agency said: “Something went wrong with the launch”. “We lost a lot of research equipment on this flight”. “We’ll learn from these events and I think we’ll get stronger from these events”, said Gerstenmaier.

The Coast Guard is warning vessels that might be going through that area, and asking the public to report any debris that could wash ashore. The company was about to deliver its Dragon spacecraft carrying over 4,000 pounds of food, supplies and scientific experiments to the orbiting space station.