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On this day nine years ago, SpaceX’s first and only anomaly occurred in a Falcon 9 flight after a rocket carrying a cargo mission for NASA exploded in midair. The launch carried SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, and while the Dragon successfully ejected from the Falcon 9, the ship’s parachutes did not deploy due to a software configuration. A NASA investigation later revealed a flaw in the stainless steel used inside the ship, and since then SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has completed dozens of missions carrying crew and cargo into space.
SpaceX’s only mid-flight Falcon 9 launch failure occurred on June 28, 2015
That’s when SpaceX flew NASA’s seventh cargo mission contracted with a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft. The vehicle was SpaceX’s first-generation Dragon, and the launch took place at 9:21 a.m. ET. Everything seemed to go smoothly for most of the rocket’s ascent flight. As the Falcon 9 soared into the sky, SpaceX ground controllers regularly called out nominal milestones.
However, two minutes and nineteen seconds into the flight, the rocket was engulfed in smoke, and after about twelve seconds, debris could be seen flying into the air. The rest of the live stream was quiet, with the SpaceX moderator finally commenting that “an anomaly occurred during the first leg of the flight. We know the countdown was satisfying; we fired nine Merlin engines; we successfully lifted off from the SLC-40 launch pad at Cape Canaveral; we’ve gone through stressful in-flight events, we’ve gone through maximum dynamic pressure, and we’ve gone supersonic. However, something seems to have happened during the first phase operations.He added that engineers will analyze the data, with Falcon 9 compiling data from multiple streams to help engineers make informed decisions.
The Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on June 28, 2015 as part of NASA’s CRS-7 launch to the International Space Station (ISS). Image: SpaceX
Falcon 9 engulfed in smoke after second stage failure. Image: SpaceX
Debris flies from Falcon 9 after its anomaly. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX’s initial investigation showed that just 0.893 seconds elapsed between the first indication of failure and the loss of all telemetry. Detailed investigations by NASA and the first acquisition by SpaceX showed that the first stage of the Falcon 9 did not cause the explosion.
Instead, it was the second degree that was responsible for the accident. SpaceX shared that “overpressure event” inside the liquid oxygen tank inside the second stage caused an explosion, with the failed strut damaging the helium pressurization system inside the tank. Rocket propellant tanks are internally pressurized during flight. This is because when fuel is used, the tank needs to maintain pressure or it will collapse internally due to the lower pressure, the strut was certified to handle 10,000 pounds of force, but failed at 2,000 pounds, according to SpaceX.
A thorough investigation by NASA added more details. He outlined that while SpaceX’s explanation that the strut could have broken due to a defect was possible, other explanations such as manufacturing damage and faulty installation were equally likely. NASA added that SpaceX chose to use an industrial-grade stainless steel part instead of an aerospace part, without vetting or testing the part, without following the manufacturer’s recommendations, and without modeling or stress testing the part according to “expected flight conditions.”