SpaceX launch ends in failure, rocket erupts

Associated Press / MARCIA DUNN 12 mins ago

An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying supplies and a first-of-its-kind docking port to the International Space Station broke apart Sunday shortly after liftoff. It was a severe blow to NASA, still reeling from previous failed shipments.

The accident happened about 2 1/2 minutes into the flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A billowing white cloud emerged in the sky, growing bigger and bigger, then fiery plumes shot out of where the rocket was supposed to be, and pieces could be seen falling into the Atlantic. More than 5,200 pounds of space station cargo were on board, including the first docking port designed for future commercial crew capsules.

"We appear to have had a launch vehicle failure," announced NASA commentator George Diller. Data stopped flowing from the Falcon 9 rocket around 2 minutes and 19 seconds, he said. No astronauts were on board.

The rocket shattered while traveling at 2,900 mph, about 27 miles up. Everything appeared to go well in the flight until the rocket went supersonic.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk later said an over pressurization occurred in the liquid-oxygen tank of the rocket's upper stage.

"That's all we can say with confidence right now," Musk said via Twitter. "Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis."

Losing this shipment - which included replacements for items lost in two previous failed supply flights - was a huge setback for NASA in more than one way. The space agency is counting on private industry to transport cargo -�� and eventually astronauts - to the orbiting lab. The California-based SpaceX is one of the contenders.

This is the second failed station shipment in a row and the third in eight months.

In April, a Russian cargo ship spun out of control and burned up upon re-entry, along with all its precious contents. And last October, an Orbital Sciences Corp. supply ship was destroyed in a launch accident.

This Dragon had been carrying replacement food, clothes and science experiments for items lost in those two mishaps. The seven previous SpaceX supply runs, dating back to 2012, had gone exceedingly well.

The three space station residents were watching the launch live from orbit, including astronaut Scott Kelly.

LTme stated >>>
NPR reported it as the third ISS resupply attempt failure since October.

As a political conservative I strongly support the principle of privatization (SpaceX instead of NASA).

But as a pragmatist I have to admit; this do not looks too good.

NASA vows to press on despite SpaceX rocket explosion
James Dean and Emre Kelly, Florida
Today 7:58 p.m. EDT June 28, 2015

CAPE CANAVERAL — While SpaceX searched the Atlantic Ocean for Falcon 9 rocket debris, NASA on Sunday pledged to press ahead with International Space Station operations despite the outpost's third lost resupply missions in eight months.

And space agency officials said Sunday's failure by a SpaceX rocket expected to fly astronauts within a few years, while disappointing, only underscored the wisdom of choosing two companies, not one, to launch crews.

"This is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but we learn from each success and each setback," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "Today's launch attempt will not deter us from our ambitious human spaceflight program."

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 29 Jun 2015 at 04:18:05 AM GMT is:
$ 1 8 , 1 5 9 , 5 3 2 , 3 1 4 , 2 7 0 . 4 3

The estimated population of the United States is 320,876,979
so each citizen's share of this debt is $56,593.44.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

SpaceX Rocket Explosion:
Can The Commercial Space Industry Recover
From The Falcon 9 Rocket Failure?
By Amy Nordrum June 30 2015
The explosions underscore the risks inherent in space innovation and repeated failures could have spillover effects for the rapidly-growing commercial space industry. Overall, the estimated 800 companies in the commercial space sector are predicted to rake in $10 billion in private investment in 2015 alone. That's roughly the amount that has been poured into the top 100 private space companies over the past decade. In 2010, SpaceX was valued at $250 million but the company raised money at a valuation of $12 billion this year after Google announced a $900 million commitment.

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Sunday’s flight also carried 51 science experiments booked through NanoRacks by NASA’s National Design Challenge and the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program organized by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Six of those experiments had already been re-booked from the failed Antares flight in October. It costs $15,000 for a group of elementary students to send a basic experiment to the space station and $35,000 for high school or university students to send a slightly more complicated one. Most students throw fundraisers or apply for grants to pay to cover the costs.

obarry should have left NASA alone...

not really, it's because he shut down NASA this crap is happening... NASA was one of the main things that made this country great... I'm all for going along with multi national cooperation, but shutting NASA down was a big blunder...

Oh, yes...that single mans power of the MIGHTY PEN;
sure it's all his alone - he makes all those budget
cuts when he's got zero clue on what all of those agencies
need or can do without! That's what advisors and
the people within those individual agencies do to
earn their KEEP! LMAO

NASA has been burning through funding and using their
space shuttle work horse well beyond their effective
days; but it's called planning and putting ones
priority in order! But we've had this 'BUTT HEAD'
discussion on another thread and it ended up the exact
same way --- your redundant 'BLAME GAME' is
old - boring - and 'OFF TOPIC'

per time spent on the 'POTUS' job...our current
president has worked circles around these 2 other
nimrods that you seem to hold in such high esteem
and they were known LIARS and spending freaks!

But your delusional inability to discuss ANY
topic leaves me ROTFLMAO

alleoops stated >>>
Not to worry. we have the capability to get what is needed to the ISS