SpaceX – Page 176 – Spaceflight Now

Support strut probable cause of Falcon 9 failure

July 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

A faulty support strut inside the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage liquid oxygen tank likely broke free during a June 28 space station resupply launch, destroying the booster minutes after liftoff in a cloud of debris over the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX chief Elon Musk said Monday.

NASA names cadre of commercial crew astronauts

July 9, 2015 William Harwood

Four veteran astronauts have been selected to train for launch aboard new commercial crew capsules being built by Boeing and SpaceX that are intended to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station starting in 2017, NASA announced Thursday.

SpaceX delays next Crew Dragon abort test

July 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

The next test of a critical safety system on SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spaceship will be delayed, likely until some time next year, as the company adjusts the development schedule for the new commercial crew capsule designed to take astronauts to the International Space Station.

Musk: Falcon 9 rocket failure a “huge blow” to SpaceX

July 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

Speaking publicly for the first time since a Falcon 9 rocket failure that destroyed a Dragon cargo capsule for the International Space Station, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Tuesday that engineers are still piecing together what happened during the June 28 accident in hopes of announcing more details within a few days.

Air Force stays the course with SpaceX rocket certification

July 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

Sunday’s Falcon 9 rocket failure may have blemished SpaceX’s success record, but the mishap will not keep the entrepreneurial space company from competing for U.S. military launch contracts with rival United Launch Alliance, according to an Air Force general.

Data, not debris, takes spotlight in Falcon 9 failure investigation

July 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

Although recovery teams in the Atlantic Ocean have retrieved wreckage from Sunday’s Falcon 9 launch failure, the best clues to the cause of the crash lie in raw data transmitted from the rocket as it disintegrated, SpaceX officials said Wednesday.

Satellite owners among bystanders in Falcon 9 accident

June 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

The long queue of satellites waiting on launches aboard SpaceX’s Falcon rockets — a backlog the company says is worth $7 billion — will stay grounded while investigators determine what caused a Falcon 9 booster to disintegrate after liftoff Sunday.

Photos: Falcon 9 blasts off, then breaks apart in mid-air

June 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Cameras positioned around SpaceX’s launch facility at Cape Canaveral captured stunning photos of the Falcon 9 rocket’s picturesque blastoff into a sun-splashed sky Sunday morning, but the photogenic launch went awry minutes later.

SpaceX failure adds another kink in station supply chain

June 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Managers in charge of International Space Station say the massive orbiting laboratory and its residents can keep going despite Sunday’s failure of a SpaceX resupply launch, which destroyed a new docking adapter critical to NASA’s commercial crew program, a spacesuit, and a part to repair the lab’s water purification system.

Falcon 9 rocket destroyed in launch mishap

June 28, 2015 William Harwood

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship loaded with more than 4,000 pounds of supplies and equipment bound for the International Space Station — including a critical docking adapter needed by future U.S. crew ships — broke apart in a shower of debris shortly after launch Sunday.