There were no injuries but a Facebook satellite was destroyed when the SpaceX rocket carrying it exploded Thursday during a routine test in preparation for a Saturday launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida Today reported.
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“The last time this happened to SpaceX they didn’t get to fly again for six months while they tried to figure out what happened and fix the problem”, Culhane said. “Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries”, SpaceX said in a statement.
The massive blast shook buildings kilometres away. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted about his disappointment on Facebook. Eastern time today, destroying a satellite that Facebook meant to use to provide internet connectivity to rural Africa, SpaceX officials and local authorities said. “To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often hard and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies”.
Facebook was using capacity on the Amos 6 communications satellite. Zuckerberg, for his part, seems pretty upset about the loss. The satellite, Amos-6, was built by Israeli satellite firm Spacecom.
“Our emergency management teams are responding right now”, said the spokesman, Bryan Purtell.
Dramatic footage shows the moment a SpaceX rocket exploded into a fireball during a test launch today. “There were a couple of minor booms after that and then we went outside and saw the smoke plume”.
Together the AMOS satellites constitute a network of communications satellites serving the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Thursday’s incident marks a blemish on SpaceX’s record, which had been clean since another Falcon 9 was lost during a launch in June of a year ago.
“We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided”, he said.
“It (the explosion) won’t have any impact on his goal at all”, Bajarin said.
SpaceX has said it hopes to launch US astronauts into orbit to the International Space Station by the end of next year.
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The explosion – heard and felt for miles around – dealt a severe blow to SpaceX, still scrambling to catch up with satellite deliveries following a launch accident past year. The space station is well stocked and able to weather any potential delays to upcoming SpaceX deliveries, NASA said.
