Thursday, January 18, 2018

SpaceX Hits Certification Speed Bump In Path To Astronaut Flights

Hawthorne-based SpaceX has hit a speed bump in its quest to fly astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS)--and Mars--after a safety panel recommended NASA not certify the SpaceX commercial crew system last week. The safety panel said NASA should not certify SpaceX's system until the agency better understands the failure which led to the dramatic, launch pad explosion of a Falcon 9 back in September of 2016. SpaceX has changed fuel loading procedures related to that failure, but the firm must meet a very strict "loss of crew" (LOC) risk in order to be certified to carry astronauts as passengers.