SpaceX confirms crew capsule destroyed in ground test

SpaceX confirmed Thursday that an unmanned crew capsule the company hoped would be ready for a summer launch was destroyed two weeks ago during a ground test.

Company executives told The Associated Press on Thursday that it was unclear what exactly caused the malfunction, which resulted in flames consuming the crew capsule, and noted that it did not yet have access to the Cape Canaveral testing site for safety reasons.

{mosads}“I don’t want to completely preclude the current schedule,” Hans Koenigsmann, a SpaceX vice president, told the AP. “It’s certainly not great news for the schedule overall, but I hope we can recover.”

Koenigsmann added that the company believes a simpler cargo delivery version of the capsule remains safe for use by NASA for resupplying the International Space Station.

NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Boeing for aid in resupplying the International Space Station, for which the U.S. space agency had previously relied on costly Russian launches.

The company was reportedly planning to launch another supply run to the station on Friday, though storms near the Florida launch location may complicate or delay the mission, according to the AP.