Faulty Brackets That Caused June Malfunction Redesigned

SpaceX officials are looking at December for a return to flight following a catastrophic failure during a launch in June.

NBC News reports that SpaceX president of mission and launch operations Lee Rosen told the International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem Tuesday that the company may be able to return to flight "in the next six to eight weeks." The payload for the launch would be a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES SA. A secondary payload will be a cubesat for SpacePharma, a startup company in Israel. At its exhibit at the conference, SpacePharma is counting down to a December 1st launch.

The flight would be the first for SpaceX since the June 28th loss of a cargo shipment bound for ISS. That failure was traced to a mounting bracket in the booster's second stage. When the bracket broke, a bottle of high-pressure helium came loose and caused an engine overpressure, leading to the loss of the vehicle.

Rosen said that the Falcon 9 booster has been repaired and upgraded. The company will also make another attempt to recover the booster by landing it on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.spacex.com