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Explosions rock SpaceX launch site in Florida during testing SpaceX: explosions rock launch site in Florida during testing
(about 2 hours later)
An explosion has rocked the SpaceX launch site in Florida. A SpaceX rocket exploded on the launch pad at the Air Force station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday morning as it prepared to carry a communications satellite into space this weekend.
Nasa says SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred on Thursday morning. The test, considered routine, was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral air force station. Initial reports suggested there were no injuries and the private aerospace company’s unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during routine engine testing ahead of the planned lift-off Saturday overnight.
Buildings several miles away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky. A huge plume of smoke billowed from the site and reports claimed the explosion lasted several minutes, destroying the vehicle and shaking buildings for several miles around. The sirens of emergency vehicles could be heard approaching the area in the immediate aftermath.
Additional details were not immediately available. But sirens could be heard in the aftermath. Images quickly emerged on social media showing the site of the incident issuing thick clouds of dark smoke, which continued to swirl into an overcast sky more than an hour after the reported explosion as witnesses in the area gave accounts of feeling a shock wave.
The rocket was supposed to hoist an Israeli satellite this weekend. SpaceX was scheduled to carry an Israeli communications satellite into orbit, with Facebook using some of that capacity. It would have been Facebook’s first satellite launch as part of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s vision to provide internet access to some 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are currently poorly connected, according to the Orlando Sentinel. It was not clear on Thursday morning what was the fate of the satellite itself after the rocket blew up.
More details soon ... Officials at SpaceX called the explosion an anomaly and stated: “Can confirm that in preparation for today’s standard pre-launch static fire test, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.”
SpaceX is the commonly used moniker for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, the California-based private aerospace enterprise founded by Elon Musk, chief of Tesla Motors and former PayPal entrepreneur.
SpaceX has previously succeeded in landing several spent rockets at Cape Canaveral and on a barge in the ocean.