Rapid unplanned disassembly

FEW things are as spectacular as a successful rocket launch, but a failed one comes close. On June 28th SpaceX, an upstart rocketry firm founded by Elon Musk, an adventurous technology billionaire (see article), began what was to be its seventh uncrewed cargo flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The success of the first such flight, in May 2012, was big news. It was a vindication of NASA’s decision to rely on the ingenuity of the private sector and the discipline of fixed-price contracts to provide cheap access to orbit. As subsequent lift-offs passed without a hitch, press interest faded, and what had been extraordinary quickly became routine.

All again seemed well as the Falcon 9 rocket roared away from its launch pad this week. But two minutes and 19 seconds into the flight one of its oxygen tanks sprang a leak. The rocket powered on for a few more seconds before disintegrating into a shower of glowing debris (see picture). It is unclear, yet, exactly what went wrong. Mr Musk would say only, in the technical jargon beloved of rocket scientists everywhere, that there had been an “overpressure event” in the liquid oxygen tank of the rocket’s upper stage, and that “[the] data suggests a counterintuitive cause”.