American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX has reportedly proposed to fuel its rockets with people aboard. The move has been deemed as a safety risk by a team of space industry experts that advises American space agency NASA. The team's concern heightened in the wake of SpaceX rocket Falcon 9's explosion on September 1 when it was being fueled. The cause of the unmanned rocket's blast accident is still being investigated.
"This is a hazardous operation," said Thomas Stafford, a former NASA astronaut and Chairman of the Space Station Advisory Committee. "Everybody there, and particularly the people who had experience over the years, said nobody is ever near the pad when they fuel a booster." The rockets that carry astronauts to space are usually fuelled before the passengers get to the launch pad. Incidentally, the team that advices NASA comprises of eight members, including veterans of NASA's Apollo, Gemini and space shuttle programs.
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