CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk is calling last week’s launch pad accident the “most difficult and complex failure” in the company’s 14-year history.
After a week of public silence, Musk said via Twitter that the company is still investigating the accident, its second in just 15 months.
A massive fireball erupted during a prelaunch test Sept. 1 at the company’s main launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Falcon rocket and a satellite were destroyed, and the pad was damaged. Ground crews were fueling the Falcon for a brief test-firing of its engines, two days before its scheduled liftoff.
The blast rocked the launch pad – which had been cleared of workers for the test-firing – and shook buildings several miles away at NASA’s neighboring Kennedy Space Center. The sound of explosions continued for several minutes, and black smoke billowed into the morning sky.
Particularly puzzling, according to Musk, is “the quieter bang” heard a few seconds before what he is calling a fireball, not an explosion. He said the bang may have come from the rocket or something else.