SpaceX's 'reusable rocket' just exploded to bits — but the company says it's going to push forward anyway
Despite SpaceX's failure on Sunday morning, the company says it wants to stay on track for manned space flights.
On Sunday, SpaceX cargo flight CRS-7 exploded over Florida.
The rocket was carrying food, water, equipment and research to the International Space Station, the artificial satellite currently in low-Earth orbit where an international team of astronauts is conducting science experiments and testing the various systems and equipment that would eventually be used on missions to the Moon and Mars.
While no human lives were lost — there was no one on board the craft — roughly 30 experiments and a host of supplies for the crew aboard the ISS were destroyed in the massive blast.
Immediately after a NASA adminstrator monitoring the launch said, "data coming back shows vehicle on course on track," the craft began to burn up and explode, eventually raining down into the sky in pieces:
In a press conference on Sunday afternoon, NASA and SpaceX were blunt about their disappointment with the explosion.
"This is a tough day. This isn't where I wanted to be on a Sunday afternoon," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator of Human Exploration said.
"Having three this close together is not what we'd hoped for," International Space Station Program Manager Michael Sufferidini said, referencing two other recently failed flights to the station.
Here's a slow-motion video of the explosion from Astronomy Now:
Despite the loss, SpaceX says it will still be ready for its first human-manned Dragon rocket flight, which the company maintains will launch in 2017.
During Sunday's press conference, officials said that they don't expect the crash to delay plans for manned SpaceX flights, and claimed that the explosion will help scientists and engineers identify problems.
"One of the advantages is that we can learn from this event on cargo," Gerstenmaier said.
"This doesn't change our plans," SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said.
NASA Administratior Charles Bolden echoed similar feelings in a press release from earlier this morning. Bolden assured the public that the ISS crew has plenty of supplies for the next several months and added that despite the failure, SpaceX and NASA will continue to press on towards their goal:
"SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first six cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success. We will work with and support SpaceX to assess what happened, understand the specifics of the failure and correct it to move forward. 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."
SpaceX said that it is unsure what caused the explosion. According to Shotwell, the company has already launched an investigation that it expects to take several months.The explosion is a huge blow to SpaceX, which aimed to make history on Sunday by successfully launching and landing the first reusable rocket.
SpaceX's goal is to eventually usher in a new age of affordable commercial spaceflight. Scientists are hopeful that rockets can be launched and relaunched within the same day, the way airplanes are used over and over again.
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