LATEST: Watch the NASA press conference above, which should begin no earlier than 12:30 PM ET, to learn more about what happened during today’s failed CRS-7 mission launch.
UPDATE: The SpaceX rocket seems to have broken apart entirely in what looks like a major mission failure. During the feed, the rocket start smoking and then appeared to come apart altogether about a minute or more into launch. The resupply mission was thankfully unmanned.
UPDATE 2: SpaceX just tweeted to announce that the craft did indeed “experience an anomaly on ascent.â€
The vehicle experienced an anomaly on ascent. Team is investigating. Updates to come.
Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.
This is the first major failure for a Falcon 9 mission, which number 19 total and date back to 2010.
UPDATE 3:NASA will host a press conference on the failed launch later today, currently planned for 12:30 PM ET (9:30 AM PT).
ISS Astronaut Scott Kelly posted the following to Twitter after the failed launch:
Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/myi3col5Ix
CRS-7 was a resupply mission, but astronauts on board the International Space Station don’t appear to be in any danger of running out of essentials as a result of this failure. Microsoft was putting its HoloLens augmented reality tech in space for the first time as part of CRS-7’s cargo, however.
Above, the feed for SpaceX’s CRS-7 resupply mission for the International Space Station is live. The streaming begins at 10 AM ET, with a liftoff targeted for 10:21 AM ET.
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.
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is a space-transportation startup company founded by Elon Musk. It is developing the partially reusable launch vehicles Falcon 1 and Falcon 9. Originally based in El Segundo, SpaceX now operates out of Hawthorne, California, USA.
SpaceX was founded in June 2002 by Musk who had invested $100 million of his own money in the company as of March 2006. …