SpaceX was believed to be test-firing a rocket which was due to take a satellite into space this weekend.
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Two days before SpaceX was to launch a communications satellite that would widen Internet access in Africa, an unmanned rocket and its payload were destroyed in an explosion on a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
SpaceX was preparing for its next launch, scheduled for Saturday morning, to carry the Amos 6 satellite into orbit for Israeli satellite operators Spacecom. “Additional updates will be provided as they become available”. “Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries”.
Private company SpaceX hopes to send a mission to Mars in the near future, pioneering affordable space travel and reusable rockets in the meantime.
Reports said that several people felt the explosion in buildings located several miles from the site of the explosion.
“A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky”, the AP added.
TV cameras showed smoke coming from the launch pad five hours later.
NASA spokesman Al Feinberg said emergency personnel were monitoring the situation and standing by to assist, and the air quality was being monitored for any potential threats to employees.
The explosion follows an SEC filing by Tesla late Wednesday that revealed a financial crunch as it strives to acquire SolarCity. It’s also working on a crew capsule to ferry station USA astronauts; that first flight was supposed to come as early as next year.
Two NASA astronauts were doing a spacewalk 250 miles up, outside the space station, when the explosion occurred.
The California-based SpaceX had been ramping up with frequent launches to make up for a backlog created by a launch accident in June 2015. The original explosion was near the upper stage oxygen tank.
It was not immediately known if SpaceX’s launch pad was damaged or what the impact would be on the dozens of NASA and commercial satellite missions on its launch schedule.
Today’s loss of a Falcon 9 rocket and its satellite payload was a bummer for Facebook billionaire founder Mark Zuckerberg as well as for SpaceX billionaire founder Elon Musk.
Emergency crews are “prepared for this as we know this kind of thing happens every now and again”, said Dale Ketchum, the chief of Strategic Alliances at Space Florida.
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