--- title: Falcon Explosion Probe 'Most Difficult Ever,' Elon Musk Says description: Elon Musk has revealed that the investigation into the Falcon 9 rocket explosion is the most complicated in SpaceX's history canonical: https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-09T12:31:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:29.364Z article:section: Science og:title: Elon Musk Admits Being Stumped by Falcon 9 Fireball og:description: "Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had" og:url: https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elon Musk Admits Being Stumped by Falcon 9 Fireball twitter:description: "Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Elon Musk Admits Being Stumped by Falcon 9 Fireball by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 9, 2016 12:31 PM UTC by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Sep 9, 2016 12:31 PM UTC Space X founder and chief executive [Elon Musk](http://time.com/space-x-ten-things-to-know/) says the investigation into the [Falcon 9 rocket](http://time.com/money/4478053/musk-spacex-rocket-insurance/) which [exploded](http://time.com/4476416/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-rocket-explosion-satellite/) during a routine filling operation is the most complicated in the company’s history. “Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation,” he tweeted early Friday. “Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.” > [](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/774150065166229504) He added that there was “no apparent heat source” and engineers were not present when the incident took place, before appealing to NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force for support and advice. SpaceX’s official Twitter account asked those with audio, photos or videos of the explosion to get in touch. > [](https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/774272189419839489) The rocket, which exploded on September 1, destroyed a satellite Facebook was planning to use to offer Internet access in parts of Africa. “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,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook hours after the incident. The explosion marks a blemish on SpaceX’s record, which had been clean since another Falcon 9 was lost during a launch in June of last year. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/"},"headline":"Elon Musk Admits Being Stumped by Falcon 9 Fireball","datePublished":"2016-09-09T12:31:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:29.364Z","description":"\"Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.\"","url":"https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/","keywords":["Space","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4485174/elon-musk-falcon-9-spacex-fireball/","name":"Elon Musk Admits Being Stumped by Falcon 9 Fireball"}}]}] ```