An internal memo sent out to workers at Kennedy Space Center this week has confirmed what SpaceX and NASA have not and what the Internet has speculated about in the 10 days since something went dramatically wrong during a test of the rocket company’s astronaut capsule: It did, in fact, blow up.
SpaceX and NASA have called the incident “an anomaly,” falling short of explaining the smoke the hovered over the Space Coast when the accident happened and remaining tight-lipped as to the condition of the vehicle.
Evidence of the explosion was leaked in a video on Twitter and has led at least one major contractor on the Cape to work to ensure that similar videos like it from inside the gates at KSC don’t make their way online.
In a memo sent out this week to contractors and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday, workers employed under the Test and Operations Support Contract, which NASA awarded to aerospace company Jacobs, were notified that they could be fired if they publicly share photos and videos from the space center. A company spokeswoman told the Sentinel the memo referred to a “longstanding policy” but was sent out in light of the SpaceX incident.
“As most of you are aware, SpaceX conducted a test fire of their crew capsule abort engines at [Cape Canaveral Air Force Station], and they experienced an anomaly,” the email reads. “Subsequently, video of the failed test — which was not released by SpaceX or NASA — appeared on the internet.”
The acknowledgment confirms the video is authentic and the capsule did explode.
An accident of this magnitude puts into question the timeline for a program into which NASA has pumped $6.8 billion in taxpayer dollars through contracts with SpaceX and Boeing, the other company building an astronaut capsule.
SpaceX’s April 20 accident happened during static fire testing of the SuperDraco engines that push the capsule away from a rocket in the case of an emergency, the company said. The capsule, called Crew Dragon, is under development for NASA under its Commercial Crew Program that endeavors to return astronauts to space from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle was retired in 2011.
In the grainy video, which first appeared on the Twitter account of user Astronaut099 shortly after the accident, the Crew Dragon is seen on a test stand at what appears to be Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A few seconds into the video, the spacecraft explodes and bursts into flames, while voices are heard shouting expletives.
“Oh no!” one voice off-camera says. The video has since been deleted.
After the incident, a cloud of orange smoke billowed over the Cape. Since, NASA and SpaceX have released few details, both saying they are focused on concluding their investigation, which SpaceX is leading with NASA’s support, before releasing further information. They have not commented on how the accident may affect the future of the program.
TOSC employees were told in the email Monday that they were “prohibited from photographing or videotaping operational activities that take place on KSC or CCAFS property unless officially authorized,” as well as releasing any imagery whatsoever regardless of its origin to the public.
“It is up to NASA and other companies onsite to make the determination about what information related to their activities is released to the public,” the email read. It also cited the human-resources guidelines in the TOSC contract on confidential disclosure, noting that employees could be fired if they are caught sharing the images.
Tracy Yates, a spokeswoman for Jacobs on the TOSC contract, confirmed that an email was recently sent out to its employees reminding them of the policy prohibiting the release of images related to TOSC or its customer’s activities at the space center.
Jacobs’ employees provide ground systems capabilities, flight hardware processing and launch operations at KSC.
“This policy includes a standard warning which states that violation of guidelines could result in disciplinary action up to and including termination and removal from employment,” Yates said in a statement to the Sentinel. “This communication was intended as an internal reminder to our TOSC workforce. It is common practice for businesses to provide guidelines to employees regarding the release of information pertaining to company business or activities.”
Yates added that the company does not believe a TOSC employee was involved in the video leak and cautioned that the rules are due to the sensitive nature of employees’ work.
“Those factors require the policy, and with that in mind, we wanted to remind our workforce of the importance of respecting the proprietary nature of our customers or their facilities,” she said.
K. Scott Piel, a software engineer at KSC who also works on the TOSC contract, tweeted his frustration about the rules Monday. An amateur photographer, Piel won’t be able to share images he takes of launches from inside the compound, either, he tweeted.
“… The combination of complaints from media photographers about photos like mine, and the release of the SpaceX anomaly video, brought the hammer down,” he tweeted. Piel could not be reached for comment.
NASA awarded SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion in 2014 to develop their astronaut-rated spacecraft to end the United States’ dependency on Russia to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station at more than $80 million a seat.
SpaceX’s development of the Crew Dragon capsule was moving forward successfully, particularly after the spacecraft performed a six-day test run to the ISS without crew in March. Up next, that same capsule was scheduled for an in-flight abort test, proving it can separate and move away from the Falcon 9 rocket if there is a threat to astronauts’ safety.
SpaceX was preparing for that test during the static fire that destroyed the Crew Dragon capsule. A test with astronauts on board was initially scheduled for no earlier than July.
The initial investigation into what went wrong is currently focused on preserving the site of the accident, collecting data and developing a timeline of the anomaly, according to NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, which discussed the issue at a meeting Thursday.
Apart from the incident, NASA and SpaceX had “identified configuration changes and subsequent qualification work that would be required to be completed” before SpaceX can fly with crew, said Sandra Magnus, a former astronaut and member of the panel.
“Notwithstanding the recent incident, there is a large body of work yet to be completed between Demo-1 and a crewed flight,” she said. “It’s still too early to speculate on how that body of work will alter based on recent events. As always, the panel encourages the team to be on guard against the dangers of schedule pressure.”
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