Science

Here's everything you need to know about the SpaceX rocket that exploded

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad just before a test fire on Thursday morning:

spacex launch pad explosion copy
A photo of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explosion that was taken by an eyewitness in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Business Insider

Here's everything you need to know:

At 9:07 a.m. on September 1, an explosion shook Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Smoke billowed from the scene. Thankfully, no one was near the rocket while the propellant was being loaded before the test fire, so there were no injuries from the blast.

spacex rocket falcon 9 explosion
Smoke rises from a SpaceX launch site on September 1 at Cape Canaveral. NASA said that SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when a blast occurred. Marcia Dunn/AP

But Florida residents reported sliding glass doors coming off their hinges, and some thought that their house had been hit by lightning, according to local Orlando news outlets.

WFTV said on air: "This may have been the biggest explosion we have ever felt in central Florida."

Oh you know just another day on the job 😳💥🚀👎🏽 #MySnapchatsLitToday #Literally #AddMeForMore @shanespoerle1

A video posted by Shane Spoerle (@sspoerle) on Sep 1, 2016 at 6:37am PDT


Source: WFTV

The rocket was carrying the $200 million AMOS-6 satellite, a Facebook project to deliver internet to the developing world. The satellite was scheduled to launch on the Falcon 9 this weekend. It was destroyed.

Elon Musk's private space company said that the explosion originated around the liquid-oxygen tank on the upper stage of the rocket as it was being fueled. It is still investigating the cause.

Sources: Business Insider, SpaceX

This catastrophic explosion forces SpaceX to conduct an accident investigation, clean up the launch site, and repair whatever damage was done. The company still isn't sure how badly damaged the launch site was.

Spacex Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral
An unexploded SpaceX rocket at Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral. SpaceX

Source: SpaceX

The incident throws a serious wrench in the company's ambitious launch schedule. SpaceX had planned to complete six more launches before January 2017. The company has about 70 missions on its manifest worth over $10 billion.

SpaceX Dragon
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which sits atop Falcon 9 as the rocket launches it to the International Space Station. REUTERS/NASA

Sources: Business Insider, SpaceX

SpaceX also operates another launchpad at Cape Canaveral and one in California that are undergoing upgrades. The company said on September 2 that it's "confident the two launch pads can support our return to flight and fulfill our upcoming manifest needs."

launch pad 39a spacex florida
SpaceX's launchpad 39A in Cape Canaveral. SpaceX/Flickr

Source: SpaceX

NASA said that its nearby facilities weren't damaged, and that the space agency's next launch should proceed as planned.

SpaceX is one of two companies contracted to deliver supplies to the International Space Station for NASA, with hopes of one day soon ferrying astronauts there as well. This explosion may further delay that goal.

spacex launch may 6 2016 pad flickr
A successful SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. SpaceX/Flickr (public domain)

"NASA remains confident in our commercial partners and in the goals of the Commercial Crew Program to take astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit," NASA said in a statement to Business Insider on September 2. "It is too early to know whether Thursday's incident will impact their development schedules."

dragon interior spacex
SpaceX's Dragon capsule is designed to carry astronauts to Earth orbit and beyond. Dragon sits atop the Falcon 9 rocket to be launched into space. SpaceX

Until now, SpaceX's 230-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket has accomplished remarkable feats.

elon musk rocket falcon 9
@elonmusk on Twitter

Its inaugural test flight was in 2010. Falcon 9 has since launched 19 times.

spacex falcon 9
Falcon 9 launches supplies to the International Space Station in 2014. SpaceX Photos/Flickr

Source: SpaceX

Falcon 9, as the number suggests, is a later generation of SpaceX's original Falcon 1 rocket.

Falcon_1_Flight_4_liftoff
Falcon 1. SpaceX

The spacecraft can deliver satellites to orbit or supplies to the International Space Station.

falcon 9 specs graphic explosion
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled to be launched later this week from Cape Canaveral, exploded during a static-fire test on Thursday. Reuters

Falcon 9's greatest appeal is that it's reusable. Once it launches its payload, the first stage of the rocket comes back to Earth.

falcon 9 7/18
You can see the trails from the rocket's launch and its landing. SpaceX

The first stage of Falcon 9 can land back on a launchpad, or on a wobbly ship at sea.

SpaceX
CRS-8 first-stage landing. Flickr/SpaceX

In the last year alone, SpaceX has successfully launched and landed Falcon 9 six times.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landing on drone ship
SpaceX Photos/Flickr

Each Falcon 9 rocket costs about $60 million to build.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Photo Credit SpaceX Posted on AmericaSpace
SpaceX

Source: The Verge

Reusable rockets can save SpaceX millions of dollars, since the company doesn't have to start from scratch and build a whole new rocket every time.

SpaceX
Three Falcon 9 boosters that were recovered. SpaceX

Rockets obviously need a lot of tests to make sure that they are ready to go into space. The one SpaceX was conducting on September 1 was a static test fire. According to SpaceX, the explosion occurred 8 minutes before the test was supposed to start.

spacex falcon 9 explosion
A NASA video feed caught the smoke plume billowing from SpaceX's Falcon 9 explosion on the launchpad during a test on September 1. NASA

This is what a successful Falcon 9 static test fire looks like:

The last major SpaceX explosion was in the air in June 2015. Supplies bound for the International Space Station were lost.

SpaceX explosion
A SpaceX rocket exploding in mid-air in June 2015. NASA

SpaceX hopes to one day take humans to Mars in its Falcon Heavy rocket, the next generation after Falcon 9.

Falcon heavy
SpaceX

Dave Mosher contributed to this post.

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Rebecca was an Executive Editor for Business Insider's news division, overseeing the Science, Speed news, Weekend news, LA news, Visual Features, and Voices of Color desks. She worked across teams to assign, coordinate, and edit breaking news, explainers, features, analysis, and investigations. She also developed guides, trainings, and coaching opportunities for the newsroom to get better every day.Rebecca started as a reporter on Tech Insider's science section in 2015, covering everything from solar energy and rocket launches to Zika, before moving to the news team during the summer of 2016 at the height of the presidential election and then running weekend coverage for 2 years. She's previously worked with the Politics, Military & Defense, and Video teams, and served as an editorial liaison with the product team that powers the CMS.She received her Master's degree from the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University, as well as a BS in Biology and a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota. Rebecca has also written for Popular ScienceScientific AmericanScienceline, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Minnesota Daily.ExpertiseBreaking news, legal analysis, criminal justice, police misconduct, public health, abortion, space, energy, visual features, extreme weather, White House history, voting rights, executive actionsPopular articlesJust don't call it 'climate change': What Republicans in Dallas can teach us about saving the planetWhat Buzz Aldrin was thinking when he left the moonHow the 25th Amendment works to remove a sitting presidentHurricane categories tell only part of the storyTRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS: Here's how they compare with Obama's, Bush's, and Clinton's