Tag: space

SpaceX Rocket Explodes After Launch

Story image for spaceX launch failure from Huffington Post

An unmanned rocket by Elon Musk’s SpaceX on a resupply mission to the International Space Station exploded Sunday just minutes after launch, writes CNN.

A previous rocket from Orbital Sciences also exploded after takeoff, and a Russian transport rocket as well. This makes it the third supply rocket in a row to blow up after takeoff, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

SpaceX said that an “anomaly” had caused the spaceship, named Dragon, to fail and was investigating. NASA is set to hold a press conference later Sunday.

“It is not clear what happened,” NASA said initially. “The vehicle has broken up.”

SpaceX — which is headed by Musk — has made seven trips to the ISS under a contract the company has with NASA. It is the first company to complete a return trip to the space station, a feat previously achieved by only governments.

The failed cargo flight was carrying more than 2 tons of supplies, including 1,500 pounds of food and provisions for the crew aboard the space station.

Mark Polansky, a former NASA astronaut, tweeted that the failure will not immediately affect those aboard. “ISS priority is crew safety,” he wrote. “Though tragic, @SpaceX cargo failure doesn’t pose immediate impact to that.”

Three space station astronauts, two Russians and NASA’s Scott Kelly, were awaiting the arrival of SpaceX’s shipment, which was meant to arrive on Tuesday.

(Updated article)

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/elon-musks-spacex-is-on-a-roll-but-the-pressure-is-building-20150627-ghz78q.html

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/28/technology/spacex-rocket/

‘Interstellar’ Reviews

According to MTV News, there are new reviews of Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” on the web. The majority agree that it’s a film of big ambitions, but are split on how well the story’s complex thematic aspirations land.

MTV News:  “Thankfully, most (if not all) of the reviews keep things nicely spoiler-free, so if you’re interested to hear what people are saying, click through to read the full write-ups of the review blurbed below.”

The three reviews below are entirely spoiler-free.

“Feeling very much like Christopher Nolan’s personal response to his favorite film, ’2001: A Space Odyssey,’ this grandly conceived and executed epic tries to give equal weight to intimate human emotions and speculation about the cosmos, with mixed results, but is never less than engrossing, and sometimes more than that.” — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

“An enormous undertaking that, like all the director’s best work, manages to feel handcrafted and intensely personal, ‘Interstellar’ reaffirms Nolan as the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation, more than earning its place alongside ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ’2001,’ ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Gravity’ in the canon of Hollywood’s visionary sci-fi head trips.” — Scott Foundas, Variety

“There are so many frustrating flaws in this enormously cerebral, wonderfully hopeful and massively ambitious movie. If good intentions were enough to make a movie a masterpiece, ‘Interstellar’ would be the greatest work of Nolan’s career. That said, even with its many flaws, Interstellar is an often gorgeous, expertly put-together movie that demands to be seen on the biggest possible screen.” — Devin Faraci, Badass Digest