SpaceX and NASA make fun of the cause of the crew capsule incident

NASA and SpaceX remained dumb on Thursday over the cause of a mysterious yet seemingly serious incident last weekend when testing on the Crew Dragon capsule engines designed to carry American astronauts into the Space Station (ISS) later this year.

SpaceX said an "anomaly" had occurred during ground tests conducted on Saturday in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A photo on the Florida Today website showed large amounts of smoke coming out of the test site, prompting speculation about a possible explosion.

A video posted on Twitter showed an explosion. The video has not been authenticated and SpaceX has not denied its veracity.

SpaceX has not released more details since its statement on Saturday, and NASA has sent back any questions to the Elon Musk company.

The NASA Safety Advisory Committee, however, mentioned the incident at a meeting on Thursday and confirmed that it was the result of firing SuperDraco engines from the spacecraft.

Patricia Sanders, committee leader, said that "the firing of eight SuperDracos resulted in an anomaly".

"The accident did not result in injury," she said at a meeting in Huntsville, Alabama. There was no staff present at the ground test site when the incident occurred.

"SpaceX is conducting the investigation with the active participation of NASA," she added, noting that the initial goal was to collect data and secure the site.

"The investigation will take time before the root cause analysis is completed," Sanders said, without speculating on the eventual impact of the incident on the manned theft. machine, which should take two astronauts into space before the flight. end of 2019.

Another member of the security committee, Sandra Magnus, called for the patience of the press and the public.

"We know that the recent SpaceX disaster is of great interest, and we call for patience to allow the team to investigate," she said.

The Dragon capsule was successfully launched, unmanned on board, by SpaceX in March. He docked at the ISS and returned to Earth without incident.

In the coming months, the company should test the in-flight abandonment system.

Dragon engines are designed to start very quickly if there is a problem with the rocket to allow the capsule to separate and rescue the crew inside.

The return of the capsule to Earth would be slowed by parachutes before diving into the ocean.

Boeing is also developing a capsule for NASA for roundtrip trips to the ISS, but its first unmanned trip is not scheduled until August.

© 2019 AFP