SpaceX Came Very Close to Total Mission Success
SpaceX Demo Flight 2 Flight Review Update, SpaceX
“The primary mission objectives for the Demo Flight 2 mission, both programmatic and technical, were met by this return to flight. The vehicle attained a peak altitude of 289 km, 5.1 km/s maximum velocity and remained in the center of the intended ground track throughout flight. An upper stage control anomaly, however, ultimately prevented it from reaching orbital velocity, an important, but secondary mission objective. .. Although eight anomalies have been identified (described in Section 3) by post-flight data analysis, the upper stage control anomaly was the only known issue that prevented this mission from achieving orbit.”