SpaceX rocket explodes 2 minutes after launch

News, US June 28, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, carrying more than two tons of supplies for the International Space Station (ISS), exploded shortly after lifting off at 10.21 A.M. Eastern Time from Cape Canaveral.

“The vehicle experienced an anomaly on ascent,” SpaceX tweeted. The company, which is owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, said it was putting together an “anomaly team” to determine the cause of failure, which occurred “shortly before the first stage shutdown.“

“The vehicle has broken up,” said Nasa commentator George Diller, as TV images showed the white rocket falling to pieces.

“We appear to have had a launch vehicle failure,” he added.

“There was an overpressure event in the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank,” tweeted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“Data suggests counterintuitive cause. That’s all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.”

SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, echoed that preliminary assessment during a news briefing later Sunday — but she said it was too early to say anything else about the cause of the mishap. SpaceX is in charge of the investigation, under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration. Shotwell said SpaceX crews were trying to recover debris from the sea.

Shotwell indicated that Falcon 9 rocket launches would be suspended until the FAA signs off on SpaceX’s findings, a process that she said would probably take “a number of months” but not as long as a year. At least three payloads are on the manifest for Falcon 9 launches in the near term, including the Jason 3 ocean-observing satellite and the SES 9 and Orbcomm OG2 telecom satellites.

The primary objective of Sunday’s mission was to deliver the Dragon to the space station with more than two and a half tons of supplies, equipment and experiments — ranging from a new docking adapter for accommodating future U.S.-built spaceships to a virtual-reality headset for the station’s crew.

After stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage was supposed to attempt a landing on a oceangoing platform — but the flight never got that far.

The Associated Press reported that the fireworks initially confused some of the spectators who were watching the launch from beaches near Cape Canaveral: “It looked fine until it was almost out of sight. And then, a poof of smoke,” said Whitney Jackson of Palm Beach, Florida. “Everyone was cheering and clapping. No one knew it meant failure.”

NASA said they do not blame SpaceX for the failure, and trusted the company to determine the reasons for the crash.

“SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success. We will work withm and support SpaceX to assess what happened,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a statement.

“This is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but we learn from each success and each setback. Today’s launch attempt will not deter us from our ambitious human spaceflight program.”

The mid-sized Falcon 9 has experienced only one partially failed launch in 2012, and in the past three years has delivered six cargoes to the ISS under its $1.6-billion NASA contract.

The lost payload comprised 2,477 kg of food, clothes, and materials for onboard experiments. The International Space Station, which is currently operating with a skeleton crew of three, has been plagued by poor deliveries in the past months. A US mission failed last October when the delivery vehicle exploded on the launchpad, and a Russian Progress freighter failed to connect with the space station after reaching orbit.

NASA said that although the string of recent mishaps was out of the ordinary, it had factored crashes into its ISS supply schedule, and stated that “the crew is in no danger.”