Today is not a good day for private spaceflight. SpaceX and NASA have confirmed that a Falcon 9 rocket broke up shortly after launching on a resupply mission for the International Space Station. It's not clear what caused the failure at this stage, but the vehicle started smoking right before it fell apart. The destruction won't create immediate problems for the Space Station. However, it comes at a very bad time for SpaceX. The company has lost yet another chance to land its reusable rocket on a sea barge, and it only just got clearance to launch valuable missions for both NASA and the US Air Force -- Elon Musk and crew may have to work overtime assuring officials that this kind of disaster won't happen again.
[Image credit: SpaceX, Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation, Science
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