Dragon Explosion

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Mission details:

• On 20 April 2019, the Crew Dragon capsule used in the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission was destroyed in an explosion during static fire testing at the Landing Zone 1 facility. On the day of the explosion, the initial testing of the Crew Dragon′s Draco thrusters was successful, with the accident occurring during the test of the SuperDraco abort system.
• Telemetry, high-speed camera footage, and analysis of recovered debris indicate the problem occurred when a small amount of dinitrogen tetroxide leaked into a helium line used to pressurize the propellant tanks. The leakage apparently occurred during pre-test processing. As a result, the pressurization of the system 100 ms before firing damaged a check valve and resulted in the explosion.
• Since the destroyed capsule had been slated for use in the upcoming in-flight abort test, the explosion and investigation delayed that test and the subsequent crewed orbital test.
• The SuperDraco engine test that failed on 20 April 2019, was repeated successfully on 13 November 2019. The full duration static fire test of Crew Dragon′s launch escape system took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at SpaceX′s Landing zone 1 at 20:08 UTC. The test was successful, showing that the modifications made to the vehicle to prevent a failure like the one that happened 20 April were successful. The vehicle used for this ground test will also be used for the following in-flight abort test.