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takyon and martyb write:

SpaceX and NASA detail cause of Dragon test failure, crewed flight this year looks 'increasingly difficult'

SpaceX held a press conference on Monday to discuss the results of a months-long investigation conducted by itself and NASA into an anomaly that took place during a static fire test in April. The investigation found that the "anomaly" that occurred during the test was the result of oxidizer mixing with the helium component of the SuperDraco rocket engine propellant system at very high pressure.

On April 20, SpaceX held an abort engine test for a prototype of its Crew Dragon vehicle (which had been flown previously for the uncrewed ISS mission). Crew Dragon is designed to be the first crew-carrying SpaceX spacecraft, and is undergoing a number of tests to prove to NASA its flight-readiness. After the first few tests proved successful, the test encountered a failure that was instantly visible, with an unexpected explosion that produced a plume of fire visible for miles around the testing site at its Landing Zone 1 facility in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Also at Ars Technica and Teslarati.

See also:
SpaceX's response to Crew Dragon explosion unfairly maligned by head of NASA
Update: In-Flight Abort Static Fire Test Anomaly Investigation

Previously: Reuters: Boeing Starliner Flights to the ISS Delayed by at Least Another 3 Months
SpaceX Crew Dragon Suffers "Anomaly" During Static Fire Test
Investigation Into Crew Dragon Incident Continues

[Ed Note - The article at Teslarati has a good description of the suspected failure.]

Original Submission

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "martyb" - https://soylentnews.org/~martyb/
3. "SpaceX and NASA detail cause of Dragon test failure, crewed flight this year looks 'increasingly difficult'" - https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/15/spacex-and-nasa-detail-cause-of-dragon-test-failure-crewed-flight-this-year-looks-increasingly-difficult/
4. "results" - https://www.spacex.com/news/2019/07/15/update-flight-abort-static-fire-anomaly-investigation
5. "Ars Technica" - https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/07/spacex-near-completion-of-dragon-investigation-has-a-good-path-forward/
6. "Teslarati" - https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-crew-dragon-explosion-titanium-fire/
7. "SpaceX's response to Crew Dragon explosion unfairly maligned by head of NASA" - https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-crew-dragon-response-maligned-by-nasa/
8. "Update: In-Flight Abort Static Fire Test Anomaly Investigation" - https://www.spacex.com/news/2019/07/15/update-flight-abort-static-fire-anomaly-investigation
9. "Reuters: Boeing Starliner Flights to the ISS Delayed by at Least Another 3 Months" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/03/22/0145229
10. "SpaceX Crew Dragon Suffers "Anomaly" During Static Fire Test" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/04/21/011220
11. "Investigation Into Crew Dragon Incident Continues" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/05/29/143226
12. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=35060

printed from SoylentNews, SpaceX and NASA Investigation Identifies Cause of Crew Dragon Explosion on 2026-01-21 06:48:10