A SpaceX rocket exploded in midair during a test flight yesterday, though no one was injured. as
The company is seeking to develop a spacecraft that can return to Earth and be used again.
The rocket was a three-engine version of the F9R test vehicle that succeeds SpaceX´s Grasshopper prototype.
“During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission,” the company said in a statement.
“Throughout the test and subsequent flight termination, the vehicle remained in the designated flight area.”
SpaceX noted that a Federal Aviation Administration representative was present during the test.
SpaceX is competing with other companies — including Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin — to be the first commercial outfit to take astronauts to space, possibly as early as 2017.Until then, the world´s astronauts must rely on Russian Soyuz spacecraft at a cost of $70 million per seat.
