Smoke billows from the SpaceX launch site. Reuters via NASA TV
Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies suffered a setback Thursday when an explosion rocked its launch site in Florida during pre-flight testing, destroying a Falcon 9 rocket and an Israeli satellite that was expected to expand the reach of Facebook.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a message on the social networking site from Africa saying he was “deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.
“Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well,” the site’s billionaire founder wrote. “We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.”
The explosion occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force station shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific time, SpaceX reported. The blast shook buildings miles away and both the rocked and its payload were destroyed, but no one was hurt.
The rocket was scheduled to launch the Amos-6 communications satellite early Saturday morning. The satellite was built by Israeli Aerospace Industries.
“…There was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload,” according to SpaceX. “Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.”
SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that the failure occurred “during propellant fill operation,” and the problem originated around an upper-stage oxygen tank.”
The satellite was reported to be worth $195 million and the rocket another $62 million.
The explosion loomed as a major setback for SpaceX, which, according to the Los Angeles Times, announced this week that it has signed its first customer to launch a satellite with a reusable rocket. SpaceX is looking to prove it can safely reuse rockets to increase the frequency of launches while lowering their cost.
A SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station broke apart over the Florida coast shortly after liftoff in June 2015 in the Falcon 9’s only in-flight failure.
—City News Service
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