So the loss of the SpaceX rocket does not pose an immediate threat for them.
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Two virtual reality headsets to empower astronauts aboard the ISS were part of the supplies on board the SpaceX’s seventh commercial re-supply mission.
“This was a blow to us”, Bill Gerstenmaier, Nasa Associate Administrator told a news conference after the disaster.
NASA Launch Commentator George Diller gave the first indication to the public that a self-destruct command had been sent by the Eastern Range safety officers.
It was Elon Musk’s 44th birthday this weekend, but the South African billionaire didn’t have that much to be happy about. SpaceX has been advancing in the NASA manned space program.
How Sunday’s explosion will impact SpaceX’s standing in future competitions is yet to be seen, but the Air Force will surely be interested in knowing the cause and whether it can be reliably fixed.
The rocket was headed to the global Space Station on a resupply mission.
An Irish tech executive who was present at Cape Canaveral in Florida yesterday gave us his first-hand account of the moment the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded in the sky.
Falcon 9 had first flown in 2010 after SpaceX experimented with a smaller predecessor booster.
The accident occurred just before the rocket was to discard its first stage two minutes and 39 seconds after liftoff.
Michael Suffredini, manager of the ISS programme, called the incident a “big loss”, but added “we will pick ourselves up and get on to the next flight”.
Space News refers to a NASA presentation that revealed that the space station will reach critical reserve levels by late July and run out completely in early September. In October this year, SpaceX’s USA rival Orbital Sciences lost its Antares rocket with a Cygnus cargo carrier aboard in a fireball launch-pad explosion.
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“We would be remiss to underestimate the gravity of the situation right now”, Nelson said today, noting, however, that SpaceX has made seven previous successful flights to the ISS for NASA. The unmanned spacecraft, which had been carrying supplies to the global Space Station, was destroyed less than three-minutes after taking off.
