A bit of a setback, to add to a slightly growing list of setbacks, hit SpaceX today. Elon Musk's famed spaceflight company was attempting to launch one of its unmanned Falcon 9 rockets up to the International Space Station this morning. While everything started off well, the rocket ultimately blew up around two minutes and 19 seconds into the flight—after travelling some 27 miles at top speeds of roughly 2,900 miles per hour.
Musk himself hinted at some of the issues in three subsequent Twitter messages:
"Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data."
"There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause."
"That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis."
The explosion marks the very first Falcon 9 rocket that has encountered a catastrophic problem on its ascent after some 18 previously successful missions under its belt. The loss destroyed roughly 5,200 pounds of cargo for the space station, including—oddly enough—a 1,000-pound docking adapter that was designed to ease the process by which future aircraft (with astronauts) could dock with the space station.
"Equipped with modernized docking targets and sensors, the IDA, made by Boeing, will give spacecraft from Boeing and SpaceX a place to dock on the station. Many of the sensors and targets are set up so the spacecraft can steer safely to the station and dock automatically to the IDA. A second one to be sent into space later will be connected to another port on the station to provide a backup parking place for spacecraft," reads a blog post from NASA.
The explosion also destroyed two Microsoft HoloLens devices that were also travelling on board the Falcon 9 rocket. The devices were intended to be used as part of what NASA and Microsoft call "Project Sidekick," a means by which astronauts can relay exactly what they're seeing down to the Earth and receive visual instructions as to what they should do during a procedure. The HoloLens would also help astronauts out by giving them easily accessible augmented help systems for whatever it is they're doing—instructions and procedures superimposed in their view, which is likely a lot easier to comprehend than just reading a manual.