On Tue, 1 Oct 2013, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
SpaceX continues to say it didn't happen.
More specifically, SpaceX says ".. our data confirms there was no
rupture of any kind on the second stage."
As witness SpaceX's reporting on the engine explosion a year ago, you need
to read their statements about mishaps *very* critically, with careful
attention to exact wording. E.g., last year they said (roughly) "the
control system noticed falling chamber pressure and issued a shutdown
command to the engine"; they did *not* say "the engine was still running
properly until it shut down on command", but many people jumped to that
conclusion. I expect this was precisely their intent.
I find it interesting that this time, they keep saying "rupture" instead
of "explosion"; this strikes me as odd but I haven't yet spotted what
conclusion it's meant to make me jump to. :-)
