SpaceX is reeling after an early-morning explosion took out its rocket on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral.
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The test was being carried out in advance of a planned Saturday launch from the site, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre. Huge black smoke clouds mixed with fiery blasts filled the air and shook the ground for several minutes, with the explosion even affecting some nearby buildings. It was destroyed in the explosion, SpaceX said. “Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and there were no injuries”, the company announced.
The payload was Amos-6, an Israeli communications satellite bound for geostationary orbit high above the Earth, where satellites match their orbital period with Earth’s rotational rate to remain fixed above a specific point on the ground.
SpaceX sells Falcon 9 rockets at a list price of some $60 million.
Some residents voiced concern about contamination from the blast, but the Brevard County Emergency Management Office said there was no threat to the general public. Initial reports suggest the area is being evacuated due to “toxic air”. Kerrin Jeromin, the meteorologist for CBS affiliate station WPEC, reported the smoke plume from the explosion could be seen on radar.
SpaceX will be forced to operate from its one remaining launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, until it can fix LC-40, or bring online its new launch pad at LC-39A. It completed a second landing in late July.
SpaceX also has leased one of the old space shuttle launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center, adjacent to SpaceX’s current launch site. The anomaly originated around the upper stage oxygen tank and occurred during propellant loading of the vehicle.
SpaceX also has a partnership with NASA to fly resupply missions to the International Space Station.
The Hawthorne, California-based company was founded by Musk in 2002 and began launching its Falcon 9 rockets in June 2010, racking up 27 successful flights and one failure in a little more than six years.
It’s the same kind of SpaceX rocket used to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. They have done some things just in the last few years that are nearly (like) Buck Rogers in recovery of some of the rocket components and the launch schedule.
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Whether or not this will affect the launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx on September 8 is also unknown.
