‘Cause unknown’ in SpaceX rocket blast

After SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a cargo launch Sunday, customers have been surrounded by uncertainty about when their satellites might fly. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, following what was meant to be a routine cargo mission to the worldwide Space Station. Despite this incident, the folks over at SpaceX are dead set on staying true to the previously announced timeline and launch the first manned rocket sometime during 2017.

The failed launch was the seventh of 12 supply missions to the ISS under a $1.6 billion contract between SpaceX and NASA. Even though it may seem tragic, SpaceX cargo failure does not pose immediate impact on that, replanning is needed, he said in his twitter account.

Elon Musk and co. are frantically working to find out what really went wrong and make any fixes if they’re required, so that the company’s investors and customers both can sleep more soundly.

In any case, astronaut Scott Kelly, who was watching the event from the ISS, summed all of this up rather eloquently: “Space is hard.” SpaceX still struggles to find the cause of the explosion.

NASA has the foresight when it comes to cargo deliveries to their space stations, and says that the astronauts have enough supplies to last until September.

While the cause of the rocket failure is still under investigation, early analysis points to an “overpressure event” in the rocket’s upper-stage oxygen tank.

In the meantime, the next Falcon 9 rocket launch that SpaceX had scheduled has been postponed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In April, Russia’s Progress cargo ship suffered a problem with its Soyuz launcher and burnt up as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

“This information can be really important as we move forward and look at crew designed and flights”, said Gerstenmaier. It was carrying 4,000 pounds of supplies and equipment for the global Space Station.

As the Orbital Sciences vehicle hasn’t returned to flight since its October mishap, the United States will now be dependant on Russian Federation and Japan to resupply the station.