Jay Clemens
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida prior to the rocket’s static fire test, Space News reported Thursday.
Brian Berger and Jeff Foust write the explosion early Thursday destroyed the rocket’s communications satellite payload Amos-6, built as part of Facebook’s plan to beam Internet access to remote areas in sub-Saharan Africa through the satellite’s Ka-band capacity.
Officials said the incident occurred at Space Launch Complex 40, where SpaceX plans to briefly fire the rocket’s first stage as part of pre-launch procedure for Falcon 9 missions, according to the report.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a Twitter post following the explosion around the Falcon 9’s upper stage liquid oxygen tank that the cause of the incident remains unknown, Space News reports.
