SpaceX Probe Focuses on Milliseconds Before Its Rocket Blew Up
- Musk’s space company begins ‘careful and deliberate’ inquiry
- Extent of Florida launchpad damage has yet to be determined
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SpaceX and federal investigators are poring over a few milliseconds of data as they probe why a blaze destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and satellite on a Florida launchpad two days before a scheduled flight.
The space exploration company founded by billionaire Elon Musk said Friday that it’s working to determine “causes and fixes” for the incident, which incinerated a satellite that Facebook Inc. planned to use to beam Internet access across a broad swath of Africa. Also unknown: the scale of damage to the SpaceX pad known as SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, from which it has lobbed missions into orbit.