The rocket was to be launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
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“Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and there were no injuries”, the company’s statement, posted to Twitter, continued.
“Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation”.
SpaceX said “an anomaly” had occurred while the rocket was being loaded with fuel.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who also is CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, has said he hopes the company will be able to take people to Mars in as soon as 2025.
A statement released by SpaceX says the incident happened during the loading of the rocket but the cause is still unknown. Fortunately, no one was hurt from the blast, which happened a little after 9:00 a.m. EST.
The Associated Press is reporting that a SpaceX rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test.
This wasn’t a launch, just a pre-launch test but something went very wrong and the rocket and the communications satellite it was supposed to carry into orbit were completely destroyed.
On Twitter NASA explains the incident serves as a reminder of how challenging spaceflight can be. SpaceX did not have a launch scheduled for Thursday morning.
The pad where SpaceX’s rocket was being prepared for launch is one of two operated by the company.
Situations like the recent loss of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will usually result in the assembly of an accident investigation team, said Bruce Conway, a professor of engineering sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide.
What effect will the SpaceX explosion have on on Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, which is supposed to bring low-priced Internet access to poorly connected areas?
“Our emergency management teams are responding right now”, said the spokesman, Bryan Purtell.
SpaceX was founded by Musk in 2002, and the Hawthorne, California-based company began launching its Falcon 9 rockets in June 2010. The satellite built by Israel Aerospace Industries also was destroyed.
Before the latest explosion, SpaceX had completed seven launches and was in the process of expanding its commercial launch schedule.
Amos-6 was the heaviest payload to date for a SpaceX rocket, with an estimated value of between $200 and $300 million, according to John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
Facebook was contracted to use the Amos-6 to provide broadband internet coverage for large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and other remote parts of the world as part of the social media giant’s Internet.org initiative.
SpaceX is one of two companies which ships supplies to the International Space Station for Nasa.
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NASA later put out a statement, saying the space agency remains confident in its commercial partners, SpaceX included. It was the first time in history that a rocket landed upright back on Earth after going as deep into space as it had.
