SpaceX’s CRS-7 mission to bring supplies the International Space Station appears to have ended in catastrophe. The Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled at 10:21 AM ET, had mechanical failure shortly after liftoff.
Twitter feeds of Elon Musk and SpaceX have made comments on the recent rocket launch. SpaceX tweeted
The vehicle experienced an anomaly on ascent. Team is investigating. Updates to come.
Musk also tweeted about the event, shortly after:
Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.
According to a Tech Crunch report, which was hosting a livestream of the rocket launch on its website that it appears the rocket has “broken apart.”
The livestream was abruptly halted at 11 a.m. ET.
NASA made comments via Twitter confirmed that the rocket had “broken up” and that an “anomaly team” has been assigned to investigate.
An official statement about the rocket failure is expected this afternoon. NASA says that it will be hosting live updates of the situation, which can be viewed online.
The mission also includes another attempt by SpaceX to recover its Falcon 9 reusable rocket stage, via an ocean-borne automated drone barge that doubles as a landing platform. SpaceX “>almost nailed the landing last time, with its CRS-6 launch on April 13.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been tweeting pictures of the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ leaving port and preparing for this test. After last time’s near miss, his team is probably extra optimistic about its chances to nail the landing today.
This is the first major failure for a Falcon 9 mission, which number 19 total since 2010.
