Shortly after liftoff, SpaceX's rocket explodes carrying food and supplies to the space station. (Photo : NASA TV)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo resupply payload filled with supplies and experiments to the International Space Station have broken apart and exploded shortly after launching on June 28, Sunday from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Apparently this is the third resupply mission to the orbiting space lab that had failed since last October when Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket exploded during launch from NASA's facility in Wallops, Virginia. More recently, last April, a Russian Progress spacecraft went out of control after being launched by a Soyuz rocket into lower orbit but failed to reach the ISS, crashing back into the Pacific ocean.
However, this year, SpaceX also launched two successful resupply missions to the space station where this failed mission would have been its seventh mission to the ISS. To date, the private space company is now trying to pinpoint the culprit for today's failed mission with NASA.
According to SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, for 139 seconds after liftoff, the launch was progressing normally when problems suddenly appeared in the engine, involving the rocket's second stage. The Falcon 9 rocket is carrying precious cargo inside the Dragon capsule which sent telemetry data for some time after the failure.
SpaceX owner and founder Elon Musk revealed some details on Twitter stating that there was an overpressure event that occurred in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank where data suggests counter-intuitive cause.
Meanwhile, aboard the space station, the crew that consists of three astronauts fortunately have enough food and water to last them until October according to Michael Suffredini who is NASA's ISS program manager.
Included in the cargo that was lost today were replacement parts for the space station's water processing system and a space suit that was intended for spacewalks and the very first two docking adaptors to allow parking for commercial spaceflight vehicles to arrive and attach at the ISS.
The next cargo resupply mission to the space station is slated for July 3 where a Russian Progress spacecraft will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Watch the video of the explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket here.
