SpaceX launch fails: How safe is rocket travel?
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Staff writer
A SpaceX聽Falcon 9 rocket was聽 to the International Space Station (ISS), when it exploded shortly after takeoff Sunday. This explosion marks the third cargo mission to fail in the past eight months, and would have been the for SpaceX; the six previous SpaceX supply runs have been completed successfully.
Sunday鈥檚 launch marks the聽second failed station shipment in a row. In April, a Russian cargo ship, Progress 59, spun out of control and burned up upon re-entry, along with all its precious contents. Last October, a privately owned Orbital ATK supply ship was destroyed in a launch accident.听The Orbital flight consisted of an unmanned , which exploded shortly after launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Similar to the most recent SpaceX launch, the craft held over 5,000 pounds of food and various supplies.
How do manned missions compare to unmanned missions?聽
NASA flew space shuttle missions from 1981 to 2011. 133 of the missions were considered successful, but two ended in disaster. The Columbia vehicle exploded upon reentry in , killing all on board, and the Challenger disaster occurred in 1986 when an explosion occurred shortly after liftoff.
Russia's Soyuz space program has experienced similar rates of success with a total of as of 2011.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 with the according to the company鈥檚 website. It currently has three space vehicles and over 3,000 employees. The company has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to conduct at least 12 cargo resupply missions to the ISS, with the eventual possibility of transporting people.
SpaceX currently uses Falcon 9 rockets to carry their "Dragon" capsules into orbit.听The company is also developing the 鈥淔alcon Heavy鈥� which will be the world鈥檚 most powerful rocket upon completion, with the goal of lifting over 53 tons of weight into space.
The shift to reliance on private firms to resupply the ISS聽would end the United States' dependence on Russia for orbital transportation, which began with the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. NASA hopes rely on the .听
鈥淭he astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months.鈥� said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the failed mission. American astronaut Scott Kelly is spending a year at the ISS along with聽听补苍诲听.听鈥淭oday's launch attempt will not deter us from our ambitious human spaceflight program.鈥� said Mr. Bolden. 聽
The next Space Station resupply mission, Progress 60, will be launched by the Russian government聽聽from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
