[chris]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 was being fuelled for a static fire test at Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, on the morning of September 1, 2016. It exploded at about 9:07 Eastern time, destroying the rocket and its payload, the Amos-6 communications satellite.

The pad was clear under standard procedure and nobody was hurt. SpaceX traced the failure to a breach in the second stage helium system inside the liquid oxygen tank, centred on one of the composite overwrapped pressure vessels. SLC-40 was out of service for more than a year.