Facebook rocket blows up on the launchpad
Fireball scuppers firm’s bid to send satellite to space
A ROCKET preparing to send Facebook’s first satellite into orbit was destroyed in a huge blast yesterday.
The explosion, followed by a number of smaller blasts, rocked nearby buildings at Cape Canaveral in Florida, but no one was injured.
SpaceX, the pioneering re-usable rocket company run by tech billionaire Elon Musk, was carrying out a refuelling test of its unmanned Falcon 9 spacecraft when the blast happened shortly after 9am.
Cape Canaveral, located midway between Jacksonville and Miami along Florida’s Space Coast, is a favourite destination for British holidaymakers visiting Disney World in Orlando, about 65 miles away.
The test was ahead of a launch planned for tomorrow, when the rocket was supposed to blast an Israeli communications satellite into orbit for Facebook. The social media giant hoped to use the device to beam the
‘We are committed to our mission’
internet to remote areas from space. Both the £45million rocket and the £150million Amos-6 satellite were obliterated in the explosions.
SpaceX made history earlier this year by successfully launching the Falcon 9 into orbit and returning it to Earth in one piece.
Mr Musk tweeted last night: ‘Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown.’ It was the same kind of rocket previously used to launch space station supplies for Nasa.
The explosion is a major setback for both the space agency and the social media company. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said last year that the satellite, made by Israel’s Spacecom, would give large parts of Africa access to the internet. Last night he said: ‘I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.
‘We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.’
Smoke filled the sky in the aftermath of the explosion, and TV images showed fumes still coming from the launch pad two hours later. The rocket was still standing, but with the top third clearly bent over.
The blast happened at Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force station, next door to Kennedy Space Centre. Officials stressed that there was no threat to public safety in the surrounding communities.
In June 2015, a SpaceX rocket heading to the International Space Station disintegrated over the Florida coast two minutes after liftoff.