Happened this morning from Cape Canaveral.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/06/28/spacex-rocket-launch-explosion-vo.nasa-tv
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/06/28/spacex-rocket-launch-explosion-vo.nasa-tv
Video of Space X Explosion
- Thread starter Chuckinden
- Start date
The new NASA Commercial Resupply Services contract is currently being re-procured (i.e., the CRS2 Contracts). With SpaceX and Orbital (now ATK Orbital) having mission failures in the last 6mos, it should be interesting to see which new players can seize the opportunity. I'm guessing Boeing and Sierra Nevada are ready to pounce. New awards are expected in September.
This also puts a lot of pressure on SpaceX considering their recent certification by the Air Force for EELV launches with National Security payloads. Until recently, United Launch Alliance (joint-venture btw Lockheed Martin and Boeing) was the only commercial space launch provider certified under the EELV program. Although SpaceX claims that ULA is orders-of-magnitude more expensive, and generally a government-owned corporation, ULA has a 100% mission success rate in the last 9-10yrs or so. Maybe that success rate is worth a little bit more $$ to Congress for mission assurance.
I do a lot of work in the aerospace industry, so these are interesting developments to follow.
This also puts a lot of pressure on SpaceX considering their recent certification by the Air Force for EELV launches with National Security payloads. Until recently, United Launch Alliance (joint-venture btw Lockheed Martin and Boeing) was the only commercial space launch provider certified under the EELV program. Although SpaceX claims that ULA is orders-of-magnitude more expensive, and generally a government-owned corporation, ULA has a 100% mission success rate in the last 9-10yrs or so. Maybe that success rate is worth a little bit more $$ to Congress for mission assurance.
I do a lot of work in the aerospace industry, so these are interesting developments to follow.
so, for someone unfamiliar with the industry, why is spacex so much cheaper than the usual folks?
They figured that "quality control" was unnecessary in the design/build process. It's smart, they are saving a bunch.....cha ching!
That wasn't really an impressive explosion as far as rockets go. Sometimes they blow up real good.