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An Unhappy Birthday For Elon Musk As SpaceX Rocket Explodes
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Sunday should have been a celebration for billionaire Elon Musk, who turned 44. He was all set to do interviews after the launch of the CRS-7 Falcon 9 cargo rocket, set to make much-needed deliveries to the International Space Station.
Instead, the rocket, carrying the spacecraft called Dragon, exploded three minutes and 21 seconds after its launch. It was the sixth mission to ISS by SpaceX, the first commercial spacecraft company to supply the Space Station.
Musk, who is the CEO of SpaceX as well as Tesla Motors TSLA -0.51%, tweeted that the rocket experienced a problem before transitioning to its second stage.
Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2015
In subsequent tweets, Musk said there had been an “overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank.” He said data suggested a “counter intuitive cause.” That was all SpaceX could say with confidence, Musk added. “Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.”
It was the third straight failed launch of cargo to the Space Station. The most important device on board the Dragon was a docking adaptor, which was meant to make it easier for future commercial mission.
The Dragon also was carrying food, systems hardware, various equipment needed for science experiments, computer devices, and gear related to space walks, according to The Guardian. The rocket was supposed to return after five weeks with goods from the space station.
Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket as it lifted off on Sunday. It exploded minutes later. (BRUCE WEAVER/AFP/Getty Images)
The SpaceX explosion doesn’t endanger any of the crew, NASA officials said in an afternoon briefing. They have enough food and supplies to last until late October. If the agency needed the astronauts to come up, they have an escape vehicle available, but NASA sees no need for that to happen.
Astronaut Mark Polansky tweeted,
#ISS priority is crew safety. Though tragic, @SpaceX cargo failure doesn’t pose immediate impact to that. Obviously, replanning is needed.
— Mark Polansky (@Astro_127) June 28, 2015
Scott Kelley, an astronaut who is spending a year in space on the Space Station, tweeted a photo of the launch from space, pointing out that it’s called rocket science for a reason.
Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/myi3col5Ix
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 28, 2015
Veteran science journalist Miles O’Brien noted on CNN’s Reliable Sources that NASA has other ways to send supplies to the ISS crew. But SpaceX has been a big, high profile effort by Musk.
The rocket that blew up was supposed to be a game changer in the space business: a reusable rocket that could be deployed on multiple supply missions.
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