SpaceX rocket destroyed on launch
Unmanned, but cargo lost
An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station broke apart Sunday shortly after liftoff. It was a severe blow to NASA, the third cargo mission to fail in eight months.
The accident happened about 2½ minutes into the flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A billowing white cloud emerged in the sky, growing bigger and bigger, then fiery plumes shot out.
More than 5,200 pounds of space station cargo were on board, including the first docking port designed for future commercial crew capsules, a new spacesuit and a water filtration system.
NASA officials said they have enough supplies for the three-person crew on board the station to last till October and still plan to send three more crew members up in a late July launch. NASA likes to have a six-month cushion of food and water, but is now down to four months.
This puts added pressure on another resupply launch scheduled for Friday by Russia, its first attempt since losing a supply capsule in April.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket shattered while traveling at 2,900 mph, about 27 miles up. Everything seemed to be going well until the rocket went supersonic.
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk later said that the pressure got too high in the liquidoxygen tank of the rocket’s upper stage.
“That’s all we can say with confidence right now,” Musk said via Twitter.
The private company is in charge of the accident investigation, with oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration, which licensed the flight.
The Dragon capsule, which is designed to eventually carry people, still sent signals to the ground after the rocket broke apart, said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. Had astronauts been on board, a still-being-tested abort system would have whisked them away to safety in such a mishap, she said.