SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk Is Speaking About The Possible Reason For The Failure Of The June 28 Launch Of The Falcon 9

To modify an old adage, growing old, and launching rockets into space, is not for sissies. Now, it appears that the failure of the Falcon 9 booster headed to resupply the International Space Station was caused by a structural problem when a strut failed in the rocket's upper stage liquid oxygen tank.

According to an Associated Press report, Elon Musk, said on Monday that these struts had flown many times before without any problem. But two minutes into the June 28 launch, one of the struts in the second stage of the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket likely broke loose.

The strut was described as holding down a high-pressure helium bottle in the liquid oxygen tank. The report said that if the strut failed, which they now believe was the case, the bottle would have rapidly moved to the top of the tank resulting in a failure that led to the explosion. Musk is reported to have said that when the strut snapped, the helium tanks released a lot of helium into the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank. That put too much pressure on the tank and caused it to explode.

According to Musk, the strut was designed to handle 10,000 pounds of force, but failed at just 2,000 pounds of force. During a press conference, musk is quoted as saying, "This is the best of what we know thus far. We emphasize this is an initial assessment, and further investigation may reveal more over time."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.spacex.com