Launch Impact

The Air Force said today it is too soon to tell what impact SpaceX's recent launch failure will have on future launch competition.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle bound for the International Space Station exploded June 29 just a few minutes after liftoff. The company has said the incident may be connected with an "overpressure event" in the upper-stage liquid Oxygen tank, but further details are pending the results of an ongoing root-cause analysis.

The Air Force in early June, after a lengthy process, certified the Falcon 9 to compete to fly national security space missions. In a June 29 statement, service spokeswoman Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli said the service is waiting on those results to better assess what this means for future Defense Department missions.

"At this time it's too early to assess any impact that the SpaceX launch failure has on future DOD launch missions," she said. "The Department is firmly committed to smoothly transitioning our launch enterprise with a continued strong focus on maintaining assured access to space for National Security Space missions."