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SpaceX rocket explodes on its way to International Space Station, delivering a severe blow to NASA

292 views · Published 29 June 2015 · 2:48 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: Real Thing TV · 2015 · News & Politics

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SpaceX rocket explodes on its way to International Space Station, delivering a severe blow to NASA.

An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying supplies and the 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 occurred about 2 1/2 minutes into the flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Pieces could be seen falling into the Atlantic Ocean. More than 5,200 pounds (2,360 kilograms) of space station cargo were on board, including the first docking port designed for future commercial crew capsules.

“The vehicle has broken up,” announced NASA commentator George Diller. He said it was not clear how the disaster occurred or even when the rocket actually failed. Data stopped flowing from the Falcon 9 rocket around 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the flight, he said. No astronauts were on board.

The rocket appeared to break apart while travelling at 4,670 km/hour, about 43 kilometres up.

California-based SpaceX, a private company, was trying to figure out what happened, noting that everything appeared to go well in flight until the rocket went supersonic.

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 U.S. space agency is counting on private industry to transport cargo — and eventually astronauts — to the orbiting lab. SpaceX is one of the contenders.

The seven previous SpaceX supply runs, dating back to 2012, had gone exceedingly well.

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

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