SpaceX Rocket Explodes After Lift Off

28 Jun, 2015

Nasa said on Sunday morning that “something went wrong” with the launch of a SpaceX supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), and confirmed that “the vehicle has broken up”.

A video posted to Instagram appeared to show the vehicle exploding. Reports said pieces could be seen falling into the Atlantic.

Cargo on the umanned Dragon SpX-7 spacecraft, which was powered by a Falcon 9 rocket, included food and care packages, systems hardware, “science materials”, computer resources and spacewalking equipment. It also carried a docking adaptor for the station as part of operations to prepare for future commercial missions.

At the end of a five-week mission the rocket was due to return 675kg of goods to earth.

On Sunday morning, ISS astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted: “Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace”.

The three ISS residents are in no immediate trouble. Late last week, Nasa’s space station programme manager, Mike Suffredini, said the outpost had enough supplies to make it to October or so.

SpaceX is owned and operated by the technology entrepreneur Elon Musk. He confirmed the news on Twitter, saying: “Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.”

The company made no immediate further comment.

At 10.22am on Sunday, Nasa tweeted a picture of the launch of the rocket with the traditional phrase: “We have liftoff.”

BBC

Image Nasa Twitter

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