(FAILURE) SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch - CRS-7

[aronth5]

Space is hard but it is still heartbreaking to see this happen.

 

[StephenM]

Elon is not going to have a happy birthday now...
It's too bad, but there's nothing left but to learn.

 

[Grendal]

Very sad. First failure in so many missions.

With the Russian launch failure a month ago, the ISS is really short on supplies, isn't it?!

Yes. This is not good for the ISS. They are actually having an issue with their water supply that this launch was supposed to correct. There is a progress launch in a couple weeks though.

 

[Gwgan]

BloombergBuisiness: Another Progress capsule laden with supplies is slated to blast off from Kazakhstan July 3

 

[Hodginator]

I missed the launch. That sucks. Did they pull the live stream after the failure?

 

[Solarguy]

So sad, I'm 15 miles south of the launch site and viewed what was looking like a perfect launch from my front yard and then the large fireball. Brought tears to my eyes.
Praying to nail the launch and landing next time.

 

[stevezzzz]

I was watching the live stream, too. We won't know for a while what really went wrong, but it kinda looked like a propellant leak leading to an explosion. Or premature staging with the main engines still firing, perhaps.

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

The live stream angle wasn't ideal because it was almost directly behind the rocket, but it looked like it was venting a gas of some type for several seconds before the explosion. Makes me wonder if something fired prematurely, like the second stage or the state separators. I'd think if they has some sort of fuel tank rupture it would have exploded almost immediately instead of several seconds delay.

 

[stevezzzz]

I was watching the live stream and thought I was seeing a staging sequence even though the first stage hadn't reached MECO, then the explosion.

 

[Lump]

Space-X Rocket disintegrates during launch - GIF on Imgur


(From FB so not sure if it viewable for everyone)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204435434751328&set=o.176051159106442&type=2&theater

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

I was watching the live stream and thought I was seeing a staging sequence even though the first stage hadn't reached MECO, then the explosion.

Me too, I was watching with my fiance and when I saw the venting I thought they were starting the separation and commented that it seemed early.

 

[Lump]

Space-X Rocket disintegrates during launch - GIF on Imgur

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

Space-X Rocket disintegrates during launch - GIF on Imgur

You can see something large and round fly off to the left around 2:23, did this dragon capsule have an escape system?

 

[SlyWombat]

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch - CRS-7

News conference coming up at 12:30 EDT:

UPDATE: News Conference at 12:30 P.M. | SpaceX

 

[Grendal]

The live stream is still up and you can rewatch the failure. At 23:42, you see a plume of white gas near to the upper stage. It seems a perfect circle of gas surrounding the area between the upper and lower stages. You can see the engines continuing to fire normally for another number of seconds until the plume reaches the hot exhaust gas. Then there is a major explosion which obliterates the craft.

 

[Krugerrand]

You can see something large and round fly off to the left around 2:23, did this dragon capsule have an escape system?

Wouldn't that be something if it did eject safely?

 

[tinm]

It was odd they didn't show the live camera from the rocket itself much during the launch, just a quick glance and then back to the long-range ground-based telescope camera views. Normally we get to watch the launch looking down on earth from the spacecraft almost from the moment it clears the tower and goes through MECO and SECO.

 

[ohmman]

It was odd they didn't show the live camera from the rocket itself much during the launch, just a quick glance and then back to the long-range ground-based telescope camera views. Normally we get to watch the launch looking down on earth from the spacecraft almost from the moment it clears the tower and goes through MECO and SECO.

From what I could tell, they were having trouble with that feed. When they did try to switch to it, it was cutting out.

My kids were pretty upset by it all, but I think I took it harder.

 

[c041v]

Did anyone else see the Draco's fire for a second?

I just watched the video a few more times, and between 1:14 and 1:17 the Dragon is definitely firing, but it can't seem to abort due to the Aerodynamic pressure. Not sure if it is the object at 2:23, but would be great if they managed to salvage some of the payload.