Monday, April 9, 2018

Report: Zuma Launch Failure Not Due To SpaceX

Hawthorne-based SpaceX is not to blame for the reported failure of the super-secret "Zuma" government payload, according to a report today from the WSJ. According to the report--citing "people familiar with the details"--the second stage of the SpaceX rocket failed to separate from the Zuma payload, but that failure was a result of issues with a design by defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. SpaceX sent the super secret payload into space in January from Florida. It's unclear what happened to Zuma, and it's unclear what U.S. agency sent the payload to space; however, an amateur astronomer and radio operator looking for Zuma found a long lost missing NASA spacecraft--since recontacted by the agency--at the end of January.

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