A SpaceX rocket failed Sunday as it went through Mach 1 when an oxygen tank in the vehicle’s upper stage overpressurized. The rocket, carrying two tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, exploded and shattered into thousands of pieces about two and a half minutes after launch from Cape Canaveral. It was about 150,000 feet high and traveling at about 3,000 knots when the failure occurred. “That’s all we can say with confidence right now,” founder Elon Musk said via Twitter. “Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.”
It was the third failure of a supply vessel in less than a year and NASA spokesman William Gerstenmaier said none of the accidents — a launch failure by an Orbital Sciences rocket and the loss of control of a Russian vehicle — had anything in common “other than it’s space and it’s difficult to go fly.” The rocket was carrying replacements for supplies lost in those incidents but Russia will attempt a launch on Friday and the Japanese Space Agency is expected to launch a resupply mission in August. Even if those flights fail, there are enough supplies aboard the station until October. Video of the full flight below.
