NASA's Falcon 9 rocket explodes post-launch

PanARMENIAN.Net - After a US resupply rocket detonated post-launch on Sunday, June 28 NASA has released a video of the incident on Twitter. Officials however, are still unsure of what caused the Falcon 9 rocket to explode, DNA reports.

"This was a blow to us. We lost a lot of research equipment on this flight," NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier told a press debriefing. The explosion is also a setback for SpaceX, the space technology company, owned by Elon Musk, which has been attempting to compete with United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Investigations will now apparently keep other Falcon 9 rockets grounded for "a number of months".

According to Elon Musk, it's likely there was a problem before the first stage shutdown.

The company had hoped to use the first stage engine, expected to be discarded post-launch, in an innovative landing sequence test, as part of plans to cut costs by reusing engine pieces.