NASA at work with our dollars...

The Telegraph wrote:SpaceX explosion: Rocket due to deliver Facebook satellite goes up in flames at Nasa launch site in Florida

Our Foreign Staff
2 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 6:01AM

An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test in Florida on Thursday, destroying a satellite that Facebook planned to use to beam high-speed internet to Africa.



The blast at Cape Canaveral - though it caused no injuries - marks a setback for the California-based private space firm and its founder, internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who wants to revolutionize the launch industry by making rocket components reusable.

"Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation," Mr Musk tweeted. "Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon."

Dramatic footage broadcast by ABC News showed the rocket burst into a roaring ball of flame amid what appeared to be a succession of blasts - sending its payload tumbling to the ground as a dense plume of black smoke filled the air.

"At approximately 9:07am ET (1307 GMT), during a standard pre-launch static fire test for the Amos-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle," the firm said.

"Per standard operating procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries."

But the explosion destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that the Falcon 9 was due to deliver into orbit on Saturday - drawing a dismayed reaction from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.

"As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent," Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page.

Facebook was contracted to use the Amos-6 to provide broadband internet coverage for large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and other remote parts of the world as part of the social media giant's Internet.org initiative.


European satellite operator Eutelsat - Facebook's partner in the project - said in a statement it was committed to expanding broadband access in Africa despite the loss of the Amos-6.

A Nasa spokeswoman told AFP that emergency services at the nearby Kennedy Space Center were monitoring the situation and conducting air quality tests to ensure there is no threat to the health of staff.

Officials at the center advised workers to remain inside until further notice, but Brevard County Emergency Management said there was no threat to the public from the incident.

Robin Seemangal, a space reporter with the Observer newspaper, quoted a source at the facility who told him it felt like the building they were in had been hit by lightning.

"We actually thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad," Mr Seemangal wrote in a tweet, quoting his source.

It was not immediately known if SpaceX's launch pad was damaged or what the impact would be on the dozens of Nasa and commercial satellite missions on its launch schedule.

SpaceX had recovered from a June 2015 launch accident that destroyed a load of cargo headed for the International Space Station.

The pad where SpaceX's rocket was being prepared for launch is one of two operated by the company. Its other launch site is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of slashing launch costs to make travel to Mars affordable. The company plans to fly its first unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2018 and send humans to Mars as early as 2024.

4EVER2 wrote:
Privatization has taken a great amount of the burden off of NASA; especially since NASA used those old work horses-Shuttle to carry freight and parts up to ISS for far longer then they were meant to be used for.

And as disappointed as I am about these set backs and the loss of money - these unmanned transports to our ISS has kept our part of the ISS from becoming just a fully staged Russian mission.
And really, Quill ...you've got to be jesting to think that the money that NASA is spending would be used for our ACA or Prescription Drug - Medicare Part 'D' plan!   Crap, the GOP would rather it went into DOD and was wasted for cost over runs and price gouging then on anything rational and benefitted humanity!

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

EXCEPT THAT that satellite launch, was a privately contracted venture, to put an Israeli satellite into orbit...

SO,  the money wouldn't have even been in NASA's coffers, without that private corporate backing..