SpaceX’s Seeks Public’s Help in Rocket Explosion Probe

Smoke rises from a SpaceX launch site Thursday, 1 Sept 2016, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA said SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when a blast occurred. (Photo: AP)

Spacex on Friday said it needs help from the public in its investigation of last week’s launch pad rocket explosion that it labelled “the most difficult and complex failure” in the company’s 14-year history.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded on 1 September at Cape Canaveral, Florida during a pre-launch test, destroying the rocket itself and a $195 million communications satellite it was carrying.

On Friday, Elon Musk, the company’s founder and CEO, said on Twitter:

SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Musk, has been the face of the American commercial space industry. It has been hired by the US space agency NASA to send cargoes and, ultimately, American astronauts, to the International Space Station.