CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) SpaceX confirmed that its crew capsule was destroyed in ground testing two weeks ago.
A company vice president told reporters on Thursday, May 2, that it was too soon to know what went wrong during the April 20 test or whether the capsule’s March space flight contributed to the failure. Flames engulfed the capsule a half-second before the launch-abort thrusters were to fire.
SpaceX officials were still unable to access the test stand at Cape Canaveral, Florida, because of toxic fuel contamination.
Vice president Hans Koenigsmann said the cargo version of the Dragon capsule, meanwhile, was safe to fly to the International Space Station.
SpaceX was set to launch a Falcon rocket with station supplies early Friday morning. The flight was delayed by a power problem that occurred at the station Monday and was fixed Thursday.
