UPDATE 4: Video of the explosion below. Insane stuff.
About a hour ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral. NASA tells the AP SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast shook the surrounding area.
Twitter lit up with reports and images of the explosion and it looks like it was a sizable one.
Wow, SpaceX rocket just blew up on pad. Shook our whole bldg. pic.twitter.com/PMxZA4v4IV
— SpaceCoastTiger (@TigernBear) September 1, 2016
Wow. Photo shows one of the explosions at #SpaceX: https://t.co/xZvJk9tc1i (Reddit/mtrevor123) pic.twitter.com/bzsy9ATvIy
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) September 1, 2016
UPDATE 1: Video (via CNN’s Facebook page) shows close up shots of the launch pad. Fast forward to about 11 minutes in. Damage looks extensive.
UPDATE 2: Image below shows significant damage to the strong back. The strong back is a support structure that helps keep the rocket upright.
UPDATE 3: No injuries from explosion. It looks like the Amos 6 satellite was aboard the rocket when an “anomaly on the pad” occurred.
Statement on this morning’s anomaly pic.twitter.com/3Xm2bRMS7T
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 1, 2016
The next SpaceX launch was slated for Saturday morning. A Falcon 9 rocket was expected to carry an Amos 6 communications satellite for Spacecom of Israel into orbit. No word on if that launch is still going forward. Let’s just hope no one was injured in the explosion. So far, it sounds like no one was.
Just spoke with 45th Space Wing: no known casualties at this time. And no threat to the general public
— Loren Grush (@lorengrush) September 1, 2016
Details are still light as this just happened an hour ago. I’ll keep this post updated as we learn more.
Featured image credit: Twitter/SpaceCoastTiger