Image Credit: NASA / SpaceX
An artist’s impression of the Crew Dragon in orbit.
An engine test of the Crew Dragon capsule resulted in plumes of smoke rising from Cape Canaveral yesterday.
Things had been looking good for the new manned space vehicle which had been set to carry its first astronauts up to the International Space Station later this year following a series of successful tests.
An ‘anomaly’ encountered during an engine test yesterday however has since cast all this in to doubt.
Nobody was injured and the problem was soon under control, however it remains unclear exactly what happened and how the incident might impact the capsule’s next scheduled test flight.
“Earlier today, SpaceX conducted a series of engine tests on a Crew Dragon test vehicle on our test stand at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” SpaceX said in a statement.
“The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand.”
“Ensuring that our systems meet rigorous safety standards and detecting anomalies like this prior to flight are the main reasons why we test.”
“Our teams are investigating and working closely with our NASA partners.”
BREAKING: #SpaceX Crew Dragon suffered an anomaly during test fire today, according to 45th Space Wing. Smoke could be seen on the beaches.
“On April 20, an anomaly occurred at Cape Canaveral AFS during Dragon 2 static test fire. Anomaly was contained and no injuries.” pic.twitter.com/If5rdeGRXO
— Emre Kelly (@EmreKelly) April 20, 2019
