SpaceX Loses An Engine, Still Arrives in Orbit
That's one tough spacecraft
SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit Sunday night despite losing an engine shortly after lift off.
The launch occurred at 8:35 p.m. EDT and was first time a Falcon 9 rocket has flown without a delay on the first scheduled launch time. But while the rocket was climbing through the atmosphere, SpaceX did experience an engine failure. It appears that one of the nine Merlin engines exploded, but SpaceX is saying that is not the case. The flight continued and, as designed, the other eight engines were more than enough to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to its proper orbit.