Spacex launches, destroys rocket in astronaut escape test

CAPE CANAVERAL (US): Spacex completed the last big test of its crew capsule before

launching astronauts in as little as two months, mimicking an emergency escape shortly after

liftoff Sunday.

No one was aboard for the wild ride in the skies above Cape Canaveral, just two mannequins. A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off as normal, but just over a minute into its supersonic flight, the Dragon crew capsule catapulted off the top 12 miles (20 kilometers) above the Atlantic. Powerful thrusters on the capsule propelled it up and out of harm's way, as the rocket engines deliberately shut down and the booster tumbled out of control in a fiery flash.

The capsule reached an altitude of about 27 miles (44 kilometers) before parachuting into the ocean just offshore to bring the nine-minute test flight to a close and pave the way for two NASA astronauts to climb aboard next time.

Spacex flight controllers at the company's California headquarters cheered every milestone especially the splashdown. Everything appeared to go well despite the choppy seas.

Recycled from three previous launches, the Spacex rocket was destroyed as it crashed into the sea in pieces. The company founded and led by Elon Musk normally recovers its boosters, landing them upright on a floating platform.

“That's main objective of this test, is to show that we can carry the astronauts safely away from the rocket in case anything's going wrong,” said director of crew mission management.