CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – SpaceX still is trying to figure out what caused its rocket to break apart during liftoff nine days ago, but is getting close to an answer, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday.
The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo for the International Space Station had just lifted off on June 28 when the accident occurred.
Speaking Tuesday at a conference in Boston, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the trouble appeared to be in the upper stage, with an over-pressurization of the liquid oxygen tank. Nevertheless, the California-based company is putting together what he calls a “super-detailed” timeline, millisecond by millisecond.
So far, nothing seems to fit “all the dots,” Musk told attendees of the space station research and development conference. But he hopes to have something definitive to say by week’s end.
Musk said the accident was “a huge blow” to SpaceX. It occurred on his 44th birthday – “a real downer.”