Elon Musk’s SpaceX Explosion Most Vexing Failure in 14 Years
- Expert says company to remain ‘tight-lipped’ for time being
- Engines turned off removes most obvious ignition source
How Will the SpaceX Blast Impact Future Contracts?
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SpaceX’s billionaire founder Elon Musk called the Falcon 9 explosion its most perplexing failure in 14 years, deepening the mystery surrounding the loss of the satellite-bearing rocket on its launchpad last week.
U.S. investigators are looking into why the Falcon 9 rocket, developed by Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., blew up on Sept. 1 before a scheduled test launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The explosion incinerated a satellite that Facebook Inc. had planned to use to beam Internet access across parts of Africa, and set launches back across the world.