SpaceX Rocket Explodes Shortly After Liftoff | HuffPost

SpaceX Rocket Explodes After Liftoff

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Senior Science Editor, The Huffington Post

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An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station erupted while in flight just a couple of minutes after a successful liftoff in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:21 a.m. EDT on Sunday.

Pieces of the Falcon 9 rocket could be seen falling into the Atlantic, The Associated Press reported. NASA officials said that they have deployed vehicles to recover debris.

Among the more than 4,000 pounds of payload in the rocket's Dragon cargo ship were important research equipment, student experiments that were lost in a previous Orbital rocket explosion, and a docking adapter, or parking place, for future commercial crew capsules.

About an hour after the accident, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed in a Twitter post that overpressurization in the rocket may have been related to the explosion.

This isn't the first time that an attempt to ship cargo to the International Space Station has failed. In April, a Russian cargo ship malfunctioned on its way to resupply the station.

“We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement following the explosion. "We will work with and support SpaceX to assess what happened, understand the specifics of the failure and correct it to move forward."

He added that while the failed launch is a reminder of the challenges of spaceflight, it will not deter any future launches or plans for the agency's spaceflight program.

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Before You Go

Spaceflight Firsts

First Artificial Satellite(01 of24)

October 4, 1957Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 launched as the first man-made object to orbit Earth, ushering in the "space race" between the Soviet Union and the U.S. (credit:NASA)

First Animal To Orbit Earth(02 of24)

November 3, 1957Laika ("Barker" in English), a stray dog from Moscow, became the first living being to orbit Earth when she launched aboard Sputnik 2. She died from overheating within hours of the launch. (credit:NASA)

First Chimp In Space(03 of24)

January 31, 1961While other monkeys had flown in space, Ham the "astrochimp" made history as the first chimpanzee in space. He pushed levers, showing that tasks could be conducted in space. (credit:NASA)

First Person In Space(04 of24)

April 12, 1961Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, became the first human ever to journey into space, completing a full Earth orbit aboard the Vostok 1. (credit:Wikimedia Commons)

First American In Space(05 of24)

May 5, 1961Alan Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998), naval aviator and NASA astronaut, became the first American to travel into space aboard the Freedom 7 capsule. (credit:NASA)

Youngest Person In Space(06 of24)

August 6, 1961Gherman Titov (1935-2000), Soviet cosmonaut, became the youngest person ever in space at age 25 -- and still holds the record -- after his orbit around Earth aboard Vostok 2. (credit:NASA)

First American To Orbit Earth(07 of24)

February 20, 1962John Glenn (born 1921), pilot and astronaut, flew the Friendship 7 capsule, becoming the first American to orbit Earth. (credit:NASA)

First Woman In Space(08 of24)

June 16, 1963Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937), Soviet cosmonaut, became the first woman in space, piloting Sputnik 6 for three days. During the mission she conducted experiments on herself to test the female body's reaction to spaceflight. (credit:Alexander Mokletsov/Wikimedia Commons)

First Spacewalk(09 of24)

March 18, 1965Alexey Leonov (born 1934), Soviet cosmonaut, made the first spacewalk, spending 12 minutes outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft. (credit:NASA)

First Person On The Moon(10 of24)

July 21, 1969Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) uttered these famous words when he became the first human to step onto the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He was joined soon afterward by Buzz Aldrin. (credit:WikiMedia Commons)

First Lunar Rover(11 of24)

November 10, 1970 (launch)November 17, 1970 (landing)Lunokhod 1 launched to become the first unmanned rover to land on the moon, and the first robot to land on any celestial body. (credit:NASA)

First Space Station(12 of24)

April 19, 1971Salyut 1 was launched by the Soviets to become the first manned outpost in orbit. (credit:NASA)

First International Spaceflight(13 of24)

Launch: July 15, 1975 Docking: July 17, 1975For the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, U.S. astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts united their spaceships in the first joint U.S.-Soviet spaceflight, a symbolic gesture for ending the space race between the Cold War rivals.Photo: Apollo General Tom Stafford, left; Soyuz Commander Alexei Leonov, right. (credit:Public Doman/Wikimedia Commons)

First Spacecraft On Mars(14 of24)

July 20, 1976Viking 1 was the first spacecraft to successfully complete a soft landing on Mars. It was the first spacecraft to take photographs of the red planet, along with Viking 2. (credit:NASA)

First Asian In Space(15 of24)

July 23, 1980Phạm Tuân (born 1947), a research cosmonaut in the joint USSR-Vietnamese Space program, became the first Asian in space on board Soyuz 37. (credit:Wikimedia Commons)

First Latino In Space(16 of24)

September 18, 1980Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born 1942) became the first Latino in space, launching aboard the Soyuz 38 as part of the Soviet Intercosmos program. (credit:Wikimedia Commons)

First American Woman In Space(17 of24)

June 18, 1983Sally Ride (1951-2012), physicist and astronaut, became the first woman in space on Challenger for the STS-7 mission. Ride also holds the record for being the youngest American in space at age 32. (credit:NASA)

First African-American In Space(18 of24)

August 30, 1983Guion "Guy" Bluford, Jr. (born 1942), engineer and astronaut, flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger, making history as the first African-American in space. (credit:NASA)

First Untethered Spaceflight(19 of24)

February 7, 1984Bruce McCandless II (born 1937), aviator and astronaut, became the first person to conduct an untethered space walk. (credit:NASA)

First African-American Woman In Space(20 of24)

September 12, 1992Mae Jemison (born 1956) lifted off in the space shuttle Endeavour to become the first African-American woman in space. (credit:NASA)

First Latina In Space(21 of24)

April 4, 1993Ellen Ochoa (born 1958) boarded the space shuttle Discovery to become the first Latina to go to space. She since has become the first Hispanic and second female director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. (credit:NASA)

First Space Tourist(22 of24)

April 28, 2001Dennis Tito (born 1940), U.S. engineer and multimillionaire, became the first space tourist, spending almost eight days in orbit. (credit:NASA)

First Object In Interstellar Space(23 of24)

August 25, 2012Voyager 1, which launched in 1977, became the first man-made object to leave our solar system and venture into interstellar space. (credit:AP Photo/NASA)

First Human-Like Robot In Space(24 of24)

August 3, 2013"Kirobo" was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to become the first robot astronaut. (credit:AP)

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