NASA and SpaceX were dealt a big
setback this morning when a Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated in the sky
over Florida. The Falcon 9 was carrying an unmanned Dragon capsule
that was taking more than 5,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS
(International Space Station). This was the third time in the last 8
months that an attempted supply shipment has met with some from of
disaster.
“SpaceX
has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its cargo resupply
missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success.
We will work with them 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
first such setback happened back on October
28, 2014 when an Orbital Science Corp's unmanned Antares rocket
exploded only seconds after liftoff. It too was carrying over 5,000
pounds of supplies when it exploded on the launch pad off the coast
of Virginia. After a two month long investigation it was determined
that a flaw in the engine caused the disaster.
The
second of these mishaps was on April 28, 2015 when a Russian Soyuz
rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The
mission was going well until the rocket, carrying an unmanned
Progress 59 Space Freighter, spun out of control before reaching the
ISS. The rocket later burned up when it re-entered Earth's
atmosphere. The cause is still being looked into but there is
speculation that a flaw caused an early separation of the third
stage.
SpaceX will be conducting an
investigation into what caused this latest disaster. The results of
that investigation are not expected to come in for months. Until
those results come in SpaceX will be suspending any future flights.
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