A major NASA contractor is trying to clamp down on employees taking photos inside the gates of Kennedy Space Center — and warning them they can be fired if they do so — after a video leaked showing SpaceX’s astronaut capsule exploding during a test.
Contractors employed under the Test and Operations Support Contract, which NASA awarded to aerospace company Jacobs for ground systems capabilities, flight hardware processing and launch operations, were notified Monday of the new rules in light of the SpaceX video.
The internal memo confirms the video is authentic and the capsule did explode — a fact that neither NASA nor SpaceX have yet confirmed publicly.
“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 obtained by the Orlando Sentinel read. “Subsequently, video of the failed test — which was not released by SpaceX or NASA — appeared on the internet.”
The video surfaced shortly after the April 20 accident, which SpaceX described as an “anomaly” during static fire testing of the SuperDraco engines that push the capsule away from a rocket in the case of an emergency. 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.
An accident of this magnitude puts into question the timeline for a program that NASA has pumped $6.8 billion in taxpayer dollars into through contracts with SpaceX and Boeing, which also is building an astronaut capsule.
But despite the cloud of orange smoke that billowed over the Cape following the accident, NASA and SpaceX have been tight-lipped about the extent of the damage to the vehicle. Both have said they are focused on concluding their investigation, which SpaceX is leading with NASA’s support, before releasing further details. They have not commented on how the accident may affect the future of the program.
The grainy video of the explosion first appeared on the Twitter account of user Astronaut099 but has since been deleted. It shows the Crew Dragon on a test stand at what appears to be Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where the accident took place. 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.
TOSC employees were told in the email Monday that they were “prohibited from photographing or videotaping operational activities that take place on KSC 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.
K. Scott Piel, a software engineer at KSC who also works on the TOSC contract, tweeted about the new rules Monday.
“We have a new policy on the TOSC contact that prohibits us from photographing or sharing images from any operations here at KSC,” Piel, an amateur photographer, tweeted at an account that was sharing one of his images. The new policy means Piel won’t be able to share images he takes of launches from inside the compound, either.
“… 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 in March. Up next, that same capsule was set to perform 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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