NASA & SpaceX to Probe Falcon 9 Engine Failure

Credit: SpaceX

At the moment, SpaceX's Dragon capsule is docked with the International Space Station, having carried a load of cargo into orbit. But the Sunday evening launch wasn't perfect: For reasons that weren't entirely clear, one of the nine engines on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed.

Today SpaceX issued a statement saying the company and NASA would form a CRS-1 Post-Flight Investigation Board to try to find out exactly what caused the engine failure.

Despite losing an engine, the mission still reached orbit by adjusting the burn length of the other eight. However, NASA has plenty of reason to want to know exactly how this happened. The agency is investing in SpaceX and other companies in the hope that their spacecraft can replace the retired shuttles in ferrying cargo and eventually astronauts to orbit.

And as PM noted after the launch, an engine failure has the potential to be catastrophic. The first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 has nine Merlin engines firing, so others can pick up the slack if one cuts out. But the second stage uses just a single Merlin engine.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/nasa-and-space-x-to-probe-falcon-9-engine-failure-13647484?src=rss

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