Thursday started on a terrible note for American space tech company SpaceX. Its Falcon 9 rocket, one that achieved global fame in December for successfully landing in one piece back on Earth, exploded during pre-launch tests at its Cape Canaveral launch site.
Update on this morning’s anomaly pic.twitter.com/1ogCMPCY44
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 1, 2016
A rocket exploding during testing isn’t new. It has happened in the past, and launch sites are always cleared of personnel. The reason this explosion is significant is because the explosion destroyed AMOS 6 – a $200 million satellite that was on lease by Facebook to launch its Internet.org initiative in sub-Saharan Africa. The Internet.org initiative by Mark Zuckerberg to provide free broadband internet in geographies that can’t afford it, has been riddled with controversy and roadblocks. In fact, the initiative was cancelled in India after widespread public opinion against it.
Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2016
SpaceX Static Fire Test Anomaly https://t.co/mclu9RFaeH
— Mike Wagner (@USLaunchReport) September 1, 2016
Looks like both SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have challenging times ahead of them.
