SpaceX CRS-7, also known as SpX-7, was a private American Commercial Resupply Service mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, contracted to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, which launched and failed on June 28, 2015. It disintegrated 139 seconds into the flight after launch from

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

, just before the first stage was to separate from the second stage. It was the ninth flight for

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

's uncrewed

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

cargo spacecraft Uncrewed spacecraft or robotic spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input, such as remote control, or remote guidance. They may also be autonomous, in which the ...

and the seventh SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first phase of CRS contracts (CRS-1) were sign ...

contract. The vehicle launched on a Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. It was the nineteenth overall flight for the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

and the fourteenth flight for the substantially upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1.

Launch history

In January 2015, the launch was tentatively scheduled by NASA for no earlier than June 13, 2015. This was adjusted to June 22, 2015, then moved forward to June 19, 2015, and adjusted again to June 26, 2015. Subsequently, the launch had been rescheduled to June 28, 2015, at 14:21:11 UTC, from Cape Canaveral LC-40. The launch was scheduled to be the third controlled-descent and landing test for the Falcon 9's first stage. It would have attempted to land on a new autonomous drone ship named '' Of Course I Still Love You'' – named after a ship in the novel '' The Player of Games'' by Iain M. Banks. The spacecraft was planned to stay in orbit for five weeks before returning to Earth with approximately of supplies and waste.

Launch failure

Performance was nominal until 139 seconds into launch when a cloud of white vapor appeared, followed by a rapid loss of pressure in the liquid oxygen tank of the Falcon 9's second stage. The booster continued on its trajectory until the vehicle completely broke up several seconds later. The Dragon CRS-7 capsule was ejected from the exploding launch vehicle and continued transmitting data until it impacted with the ocean. SpaceX officials stated that it could have been recovered if the parachutes had deployed, but the software in the capsule did not include any provisions for parachute deployment in this situation. It is assumed that the capsule crumpled and broke up on impact. Subsequent investigation traced the accident to the failure of a

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. A stay is sometimes used as a synonym for ...

that secured a high-pressure helium bottle inside the second stage's liquid oxygen tank. The COPV bottle containing helium had broken loose and struck the upper dome of the oxygen tank with catastrophic effect. The report from SpaceX pointed out that the stainless-steel eye bolt was rated for a load of , but failed at . An independent investigation by NASA concluded that the most probable cause of the strut failure was a design error: instead of using a stainless-steel eye bolt made of aerospace-grade material, SpaceX chose an industrial-grade material without adequate screening and testing and overlooked the recommended safety margin.

Payload

Primary payload

NASA contracted with SpaceX for the CRS-7 mission and set the primary payload, date/time of launch, and orbital parameters for the Dragon

space capsule A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surfa ...

. , the first International Docking Adapter, ''IDA-1'', was scheduled for delivery to the

on CRS-7. This adapter would have been attached to one of the

Pressurized Mating Adapter A Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) is a component used on the International Space Station (ISS) to convert the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) interface used to connect ISS modules to an APAS-95 spacecraft docking port. Three PMAs are attached ...

s (PMA-2 or PMA-3) and converted the APAS-95 docking interface to the newer

NASA Docking System The NASA Docking System is NASA's implementation of the International Docking System Standard (IDSS), an international spacecraft docking standard promulgated by the International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board. NDS is a Docking an ...

(NDS). These adapters allow docking of the newer human-transport spacecraft of the

Commercial Crew Program The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides Private spaceflight, commercially operated human spaceflight, crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between t ...

. Previous United States cargo missions after the retirement of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

were berthed, rather than docked, while docking is considered the safer and preferred method for spacecraft carrying humans. The subsequent Cargo Dragon missions CRS-9 and CRS-18 brought docking adapters IDA-2 and IDA-3, to PMA-2 and PMA-3 respectively. They have been in use since 2020.

Detailed payload manifest

A full listing of the cargo aboard the failed mission included: * A Gorilla Suit * Crew Supplies — **92 Food Bulk Overwrap Bags, 2 Bonus Food Kits, 2 Fresh Food Kits, including custom astronaut food cooked by British chef Heston Blumenthal for British astronaut

Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...

**Crew Provisions, Crew Care, Operations data file * Utilization — **

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

: Vascular Echo Exercise Band **

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

: Circadian Rhythms, KUBIK EBOXes, Interface Plate, EPO Peake, BioLab, Spheroids, EMCS RBLSS, Airway Mon., LiOH Cartridge **

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national Aeronautics, air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satell ...

: Atomization, Biological Rhythms, Multi-omics, Cell Mechanosensing 3, Plant Gravity Sensing 3, SAIBO L&M, Space Pup, Stem Cells, MSPR LM, Group Combustion Camera ** US: 2 Polars, 6 DCBs and Ice Bricks, 1 MERLIN, FCF/HRF Resupply, HRP Resupply its, MCT, Microbiome, Twin Studies IMAX Camera, Meteor, Micro-9, MSG Resupply, NanoRacks Modules & 0.5 NRCSD #7, Universal Battery Charger, Veg-03, Microbial Observatory-1, Microchannel Diffusion Experiment, Wetlab RNA Smartcycler, SCK, Story Time, MELFI TDR Batteries *Computer resources — **Projector screen, Sidekick, OCT laptop and power supply, 32 GB

microSD Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...

cards, generic USB cables, power modules and card readers, preloaded ThinkPad T61p hard drives, CD storage container, network-attached storage devices, XF305 camcorders, RS-422 adapter cables *Vehicle hardware — **CHECS CMS: HRM Watches, Bench Lock Studs, Glenn Harness for Kelly, Kopra and Peake **CHECS EHS: Monitoring Assemblies, Filter Assemblies, CSA-CP/CDM Battery Assemblies, SIECE Cartridge Assemblies, Water Kit, Petri Dish Packets **CHECS HMS: IMAKs, Oral Med Packs **C&T: C2V2 Communications Unit (and HTV-5 Unit Data Converter) ** ECLSS: 3 Pretreat Tanks, Filter Inserts, 9 KTOs, UPA FCPA, CDRS ASV, IMV Valve, Wring Collector, Water Sampling Kits, OGS ACTEX Filter, ARFTA Brine Filter Assemblies, / Pressure Sensor, NORS Tank, **3 PBA Assemblies, 2 MF Beds, 2 Urine Receptacles, Toilet Paper Packages, Sensor, Ammonia Cartridge Bag, PTU XFER Hose **

EPS An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

: 2 Avionics Restart Cables ** Makita Drill, PWD Filter, N3 Bulkhead Connectors, Yellow/Red Adapters, IWIS Plates, 6.0 & 4.0 Waste Xfer Bags, BEAM Ground Straps, JEM Stowage Wire Kit * EVA Hardware — **SEMU, REBA, EMU Ion Filters (4), Equipment Tethers, Gas Grap, EMU Mirrors, Crew Lock Bags, SEMU arms/legs **Lindgren/Yui ECOKs & CCAs, Lindgren LCVG **Kelly LCVG, Padalka EMU Gloves *Russian Cargo **Russian Segment Torque Wrench *Unpressurized Cargo — ** International Docking Adapter #1 The mission would have transported more than of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station including the Meteor Composition Determination investigation which would have observed

meteors A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

entering the Earth's atmosphere by taking high resolution photos and videos. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space had arranged for it to carry more than 30 student research projects to the station including experiments dealing with

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

microgravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

as well as an experiment to evaluate a

sunlight Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...

blocking form of plastic. CRS-7 would have brought a pair of modified Microsoft HoloLenses to the International Space Station as part of Project Sidekick.

Planned post-launch flight test

After the second stage separation, SpaceX planned to conduct a flight test and attempt to return the Falcon 9's nearly empty first stage through the atmosphere and land it on

autonomous spaceport drone ship An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is a modified ocean-going barge developed by SpaceX and equipped with propulsion systems to maintain precise position and a large floating landing platform, landing platform. They were developed to re ...

''Of Course I Still Love You''. This would have been SpaceX's third attempt to land the booster on a floating platform after earlier tests in January 2015 and April 2015 were not successful. The boosters were fitted with a variety of technologies to facilitate the flight test, including grid fins and landing legs to facilitate the post-mission test.

References

External links

Mission Overview
NASA, 2 pages, pdf, June 24, 2015.
Press Kit
NASA, 27 pages, pdf, June 26, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:CRS 007 SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft launched in 2015 Satellite launch failures SpaceX payloads contracted by NASA Supply vehicles for the International Space Station Rocket launches in 2015 Space accidents and incidents in the United States