As SpaceX continues to investigate what when wrong during its seventh Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-7) mission, experts do not believe the setback will hold the company back for long.
Dale Ketcham, chief of strategic alliances for Space Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel CEO Elon Musk is deliberate careful in approaching projects, but efficient as well. SpaceX, which is contracted with NASA to fly cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) using unmanned spacecraft, still does not know why its Falcon 9 rocket exploded shortly after launch late last month.
While Ketcham and other experts believe SpaceX's competitors will benefit in the short-term, they do not expect Musk and co. to suffer too much.
"Elon has a habit of taking longer and costing more than he originally anticipated, but still it's a hell of a lot faster than the government," Ketcham told the Sentinel.
In a statement on its website, SpaceX said their initial findings "suggests the vehicle experienced an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank approximately 139 seconds into flight."
In anticipation of the complex investigation, SpaceX cancelled its upcoming CRS mission in Aug., but the company's past success is a good sign moving forward. The Falcon 9 rocket had gone through 18 consecutive successful launches since 2010 and five this year, the Sentinel noted.
"Eighteen out of 19 is pretty good," Marco Cáceres, a senior space analyst at the Teal Group, told the newspaper. "These failures do happen. If it was a brand-new vehicle and you had this, you'd be concerned, because you'd be thinking maybe it's a design flaw. But after 18 flights, this vehicle is fine."
(Source: Orlando Sentinel)
