A week has passed since the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch failure that resulted in the total loss of the $60 million rocket and its cargo. CEO Elon Musk has finally broken his silence on the matter and spoke about the disaster.
Speaking before the International Space Station R&D conference in Boston, Musk said "the accident was a huge blow to SpaceX."
According to The Verge, the CEO "seemed confounded" and readily admitted that he and his team are "stumped" by the accident.
"The data does seem to be quite difficult to interpret. Whatever happened was not straightforward," he said.
The Falcon 9 rocket was en route to the International Space Station (ISS) after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. But it blew up minutes into the flight. After the accident, Musk tweeted "an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank" is to blame but investigations continue.
But more than just a resupply mission for the ISS, last week's ill-fated SpaceX Falcon 9 launch was also meant to serve as the reusable rocket's ability to land. Musk said another happen is set to happen "later this year" but did not discuss further details.
Despite the accident and the delay of the next scheduled launch, NASA has not lost its faith in the spacefaring company. Analysts are also confident that SpaceX will get back on its feet faster than expected.
According to The Seattle Times, Teal Group senior space analyst Marco Caceres said the delay could only last between three to four months. The analyst also pointed out the Falcon 9's consecutive successful launches since 2010 until last week.
"Eighteen out of 19 is pretty good. These failures do happen. It if was a brand-new vehicle and you had this, you'd be concerned, because you'd be thinking maybe it's a design flaw. But after 18 flights, the vehicle is fine," Caceres said.
As for the cause of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch failure, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company said it is "reviewing every available piece of flight data."
