SpaceX engineers don’t know what went wrong during the June 28 explosion of an unmanned SpaceX rocket, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Tuesday.
“Obviously it’s a huge blow to SpaceX,” Musk said, according to Mashable.
Musk added that the explosion was especially depressing since it came on his birthday. “It was a real downer,” he said.
This was the first Flacon 9 rocket of 19 launched by SpaceX to explode. The ship was carrying 4,000 pounds of food and supplies and was on its way to NASA’s Space Station. It disintegrated within two minutes of its launch from Florida.
The accident is an obstacle to SpaceX’s mission to make space travel more affordable and create reusable rockets for missions to Mars.
[Mashable]
More Must-Reads From TIME
- Essay: The Tyre Nichols Videos Demand Solemnity, Not Sensationalism
- For People With Disabilities, Losing Abortion Access Can Be a Matter of Life or Death
- Inside the Stealth Efforts to Smuggle Starlink Internet Into Iran
- Natasha Lyonne on Poker Face and Creating Characters Who Subvert Leading-Lady Tropes
- How to Help the Victims and Community After the Monterey Park Shooting
- Why Grocery Staples Are So Expensive Right Now
- Quantum Computers Could Solve Countless Problems—and Create a Lot of New Ones
- Where to Watch All of the 2023 Oscar Nominees
- How to Be Mindful if You Hate Meditating
