Little is known about the cause of the explosion at this point. Preliminary analysis suggests the vehicle experienced an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank approximately 139 seconds into flight.
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As for the notoriously exacting Musk, we’re certain he hasn’t slept and has no plans to sleep until the latest Falcon mystery is solved.
Unfortunately merely two minutes after liftoff the Falcon 9 rocket exploded in mid-air, fortunately though it was an unmanned mission so there was no loss of life.
The explosion took place only two minutes in flight without an obvious cause just as the spacecraft was about to separate from its first stage.
At 7:21 a.m., a SpaceX vehicle with a Dragon 9 capsule – loaded with 4,300 pounds of goods – was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration has classified the explosion as a “mishap”. The rocket was carrying supplies to the global Space Station.
However, Nasa’s second cargo transporter, run by Orbital ATK, remains grounded following a launch accident in October.
Sources said the Dragon SpX-7 spacecraft was carrying items such as food packages, systems hardware and spacewalking equipment.
Today’s launch was SpaceX’s seventh cargo resupply mission to the global Space Station.
SpaceX’s Falcon rocket is supposed to be different because it wants to reuse the expensive booster by landing it precisely onto a barge in the Atlantic ocean.
This is sure to be an embarrassment for SpaceX, which hopes to receive approval from NASA to ferry astronauts to and from orbit in the Dragon 2 crew cabin. The crew have consumables stored that should last them through October.
According to NASA, the ISS Progress 60 (60P) cargo craft is at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad preparing for a 12:55 a.m. EDT (10:55 a.m. Baikonur time) launch Friday, July 3, from Kazakhstan.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that though they were disappointed by the loss, the astronauts were safe aboard the station and has sufficient supplies for the next several months, the Guardian reported.
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“Once we identify the issues we will submit that documentation to the FAA and it will be considered prior to the next flight”, said SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell.
