Enter the FBI
We must always cease and admire the crucible that SpaceX engineers and technicians endured within the fall of 2016. They had been concurrently making an attempt to tease out the physics of a fiendishly complicated failure; show to NASA their exploding rocket was secure; persuade security officers that regardless that they’d simply blown up their rocket by fueling it too shortly, load-and-go was possible for astronaut missions; improve the cadence of Falcon 9 missions to catch and surpass ULA; and, oh sure, gently clarify to the boss {that a} sniper had not shot their rocket.
So there needed to be some reduction when, on October 13, Hughes obtained that letter from Dr. Michael C. Romanowski, director of Industrial House Integration on the FAA.
In line with this letter (see a replica right here), three weeks after the launch pad explosion, SpaceX submitted “video and audio” together with its evaluation of the failure to the FAA. “SpaceX prompt that within the firm’s view, this info and knowledge could possibly be indicative of sabotage or felony exercise related to the on-pad explosion of SpaceX’s Falcon 9,” the letter states.
That is notable as a result of it means that Musk directed SpaceX to raise the “sniper” idea to the purpose that the FAA ought to take it severely. However there was extra. In line with the letter, SpaceX reported the identical knowledge and evaluation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Florida.
After this, the Tampa Area Workplace of the FBI and its Prison Investigative Division in Washington, DC, appeared into the matter. And what did they discover? Nothing, apparently.
“The FBI has knowledgeable us that primarily based upon an intensive and coordinated evaluate by the suitable Federal felony and safety investigative authorities, there have been no indications to counsel that sabotage or another felony exercise performed a task within the September 1 Falcon 9 explosion,” Romanowski wrote. “Consequently, the FAA considers this matter closed.”
The failure of the Amos-6 mission would develop into a low level for SpaceX. For just a few weeks, there have been non-trivial questions concerning the firm’s monetary viability. However quickly, SpaceX would come roaring again. In 2017, the Falcon 9 rocket launched a document 18 occasions, surpassing ULA for the primary time. The hole would solely widen. Final 12 months, SpaceX launched 137 rockets to ULA’s 5.
With Amos-6, subsequently, SpaceX misplaced the battle. However it could ultimately win the conflict—with out anybody firing a shot.
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