SpaceX Delays Next Mission To The International Space Station After Last Blast

Industry Week | Space Technology

SpaceX, Elon Musk's space project, will not be blasting off anytime soon, contrary to expectations and the Falcon 9 rocket is being delayed for a few more months.

* Space and Electric Car
enthusiast: Elon Musk

Privately owned SpaceX had enjoyed a seven-year record of safety in flight until the accident happened according a report by the Industry Week.

In June, a SpaceX rocket exploded minutes after takeoff. The crash was blamed on a failed strut and Musk, as the Chief Executive Officer, had promised a relaunch no earlier than September.

But as September gets underway, the launch pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral, may not be stoked just yet, according to a report by the Industry Week.

Speaking at a spaceflight conference in California SpaceX Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell reportedly said a new launch might be months away as “It’s taking more time than we originally envisioned to get back to flight,” adding "We’re a couple of months away from the next flight."

SpaceX stepped in to deliver NASA's routine cargoes to the International Space Station, but June's explosion reportedly cost the Agency $110m (£72m) in lost equipment.

* SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket explodes in Junes shortly

after take off. (Credit: The Register).

Shotwell said the problem was relatively easy to fix, and that engineers were just being extra cautious in the hunt for other potential issues, IW reports the COO as saying.

“What we wanted to do was to take advantage of the lessons that we learned from that particular failure and make sure we’re not seeing something like that anywhere throughout the vehicle” she said from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Space conference.

Elon Musk is the billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, which manufactures electric cars. He also co-founded PayPal.