A Falcon 9 rocket owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX was destroyed in an explosion on the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station shortly after 9am Eastern Time today. Also lost was Spacecom’s AMOS-6 satellite which Facebook had planned to use to expand Internet connectivity in Africa.
The explosion, pictured above, occurred as the rocket was being prepared for a routine test firing and just two days before it was set to take the satellite into orbit. SpaceX said that no injuries resulted from the explosion, which the company attributed to an “anomaly” during the static fire test, reports Reuters.
Musk, who is also CEO of the electric car maker Tesla Motors, took to Twitter shortly afterwards, saying that the issue originated around the upper stage oxygen tank as the rocket was being filled with propellant. SpaceX says that the root cause remains unknown, but Musk pledged a later update via Twitter.
Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2016
While the SpaceX campaign comes under focus in the next issue of AppleMagazine, to be released tonight, this setback in Florida came too late for us to mention in the issue ahead of our press deadline. For this reason, we have decided to report on this incident now to keep our readers updated.
