A massive fireball erupted when a SpaceX rocket exploded at its Florida’s Cape Canaveral launch pad destroying the rocket and the satellite it was due to launch soon.
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SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded Thursday on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, dealing a blow to the California-based company’s ambitious space exploration project, and even America’s commercial space industry.
Pictures of black smoke rising from the SpaceX launch complex were circulating on Twitter.
The explosion was felt around the facility, and a mushroom cloud could be seen over the launch site, the engineer told ABC News. We are continuing to review the data to identify the root cause.
Zuckerberg said he was “disappointed” that the mishap destroyed his $95 million satellite.
The plan to provide internet access to sub-Saharan Africa is part of Mr Zuckerberg’s Internet.org initiative, which was launched in 2013.
The accident could derail Spacecom’s impending sale to the Beijing Xinwei Technology Group valued at $285 million. The test was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Spacecom said the loss will have “a significant impact” on the company. The pad had been cleared of workers before what was supposed to be a routine pre-launch rocket engine test. He had promised Africa connectivity and expressed his disappointment at the launch failure in a Facebook post.
Eutelsat said it also regretted the loss but remained committed to growing broadband in Africa. The last such flight took place in July. SpaceX is one of two companies that transport cargo to the orbiting laboratory, which flies 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. NASA remains confident in its commercial partners, including SpaceX, she said. The agency stated that it’s “too early to know” if the loss would affect the supply chain down the line.
Musk has had to face problems in his quest to make space travel reachable and affordable, raising doubts on whether or not he is moving too quickly in his investments, which include auto company Tesla and electric utility company SolarCity.
The result of the explosion had witnessed shares of Musk’s companies Tesla Motors and SolarCity crashing down to 4 per cent at US$203.65 and 5.5 per cent at US$19.50 respectively in morning trade.
SpaceX’s quest to reuse its rockets suffered high-profile setbacks in January and June 2015 when Falcon 9 rockets were lost during landing and launch phases.
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The Falcon 9 rocket and its $200m (£150m) satellite payload were destroyed in the blast, which happened while the rocket was being test-fired just after 1pm.
