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data-mpssectionlist="tech" data-mpsstorylinelist="" data-mpstype="post" data-videodata="{"section":"tech","topic":"tech-news"}"> <div class="article_capsule"> <div class="container"> <div class="ad-container ad-hide"> <div class="ad-content ad-xs mobileinterstitial ad-content_row" data-placement="mobileinterstitial"></div> </div> <header class="row_article article-header article_max"> <div class="article-flags"> <div class="article-flags_container"> <div class="flag_article-wrapper"> <a class="flag flag_article-section" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech">Tech</a> </div> <div class="flag_article-wrapper flag_article-wrapper-last"> <time class="timestamp_article" datetime="2016-12-13T18:06:00.000Z">Dec 13 2016, 1:06 pm ET</time> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article-hed"> <h1>What's the Hold-Up at SpaceX?</h1> <p class="byline_article"> <span class="byline"> <span class="lowercase">by</span> <span class="byline_author">Alyssa Newcomb</span></span> </p> </div> </header> </div> <div 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rel="publisher"> <i class="fa fa-google-plus" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="social-list_txt">Share</span> </a></li> <li class="hidden-xs"> <a class="js-sharearticle" target="_blank" href="mailto:?subject=What%27s%20the%20Hold-Up%20at%20SpaceX%3F%20on%20NBCNews.com&body=From%20NBCNews.com...%20%0D%0A%0D%0A%20What%27s%20the%20Hold-Up%20at%20SpaceX%3F%0D%0Ahttp://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-s-hold-spacex-n695001?cid=eml_onsite"> <i class="fa fa-envelope-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="social-list_txt">Email</span> </a></li> <li class="hidden-xs"> <button class="js-sharearticle print"> <i class="fa fa-print" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="social-list_txt">Print</span> </button> </li> <li> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.newsvine.com/_api/discuss?u=http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/what-s-hold-spacex-n695001&h=What%27s%20the%20Hold-Up%20at%20SpaceX%3F&t=tech&cid="> <i class="fa fa-comment-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="social-list_txt">Comment</span> </a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="ad-container ad-container_default ad-container_mobile ad-hide ad-container-boxflex"> <div class="ad-label ad-hide"> <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/31066137/media-kit/" target="_blank">advertisement</a> </div> <div class="ad-content ad-xs boxflex" data-placement="boxflex"></div> </div> <div class="article_col-main article_col-main-left article_main"> <div class="article-body"> <p> If it's any small comfort, 2016 probably wasn't the most enjoyable year for billionaire Elon Musk, either. </p> <p> SpaceX's first manned flight to the International Space Station has been postponed until 2018, <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2016/12/12/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-flight-dates/">NASA announced on Monday.</a> </p> <p> It's another setback for Musk's space exploration company, which is hoping to blast into the new year with an ambitious launch schedule. SpaceX is hoping to return to flight in January — four months after a rocket explosion damaged its launchpad and destroyed the satellite it had been set to carry into orbit. </p> <div class="js-player-shell" data-playertype="Inline"> <div class="widget widget_video widget_trusted"> <div class="video-viewport"> <div class="intrinsic"> <div class="intrinsic-wrapper ratio-16x9"> <div id="video_mpx_756734019748_7" class="js-video-placeholder" data-mpxid="756734019748" style="position: absolute; width:100%; height: 100%;"> <button id="js-play-video756734019748_7" class="btn_txt img-overlay img-overlay_lg img-overlay_default img-overlay_middle img-overlay_video"> <i class="fa fa-play" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Play</span> </button> <picture> <source media="(max-width: 480px)" srcset="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-360-200.jpg"> <source media="(min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 767px)" srcset="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-440-240.jpg"> <source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 999px)" srcset="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-800-440.jpg"> <source media="(min-width: 1000px) and (max-width: 1229px)" srcset="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-1080-600.jpg"> <source media="(min-width: 1230px)" srcset="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-1240-700.jpg"> <img class="img_tease" src="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/components/video/201609/tdy_tom_rocket_160902.nbcnews-ux-1080-600.jpg" title="SpaceX rocket explosion: What caused launch pad failure?"> </picture> </div> </div> </div> </div> <ul class="social-list social-list_widget social-list_horizontal"> <li><a class="js-sharethis" data-guid="tdy_tom_rocket_160902" data-context="inline-share-bar" target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.today.com/video/spacex-rocket-explosion-what-caused-launch-pad-failure-756734019748&t=SpaceX%20rocket%20explosion:%20What%20caused%20launch%20pad%20failure?"> <i class="fa fa-facebook" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Facebook</span> </a></li> <li><a class="js-sharethis" data-guid="tdy_tom_rocket_160902" data-context="inline-share-bar" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=SpaceX%20rocket%20explosion:%20What%20caused%20launch%20pad%20failure?&url=http://www.today.com/video/spacex-rocket-explosion-what-caused-launch-pad-failure-756734019748&via=nbcnews"> <i class="fa fa-twitter" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Twitter</span> </a></li> <li><a class="js-sharethis" data-guid="tdy_tom_rocket_160902" data-context="inline-share-bar" target="_blank" href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.today.com/video/spacex-rocket-explosion-what-caused-launch-pad-failure-756734019748" rel="publisher"> <i class="fa fa-google-plus" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Google Plus</span> </a></li> <li class="cursor-pointer"> <i class="js-toggle js-toggle-embed fa fa-code" data-togglecontrols="{"toggleClass":"is-hidden hidden-xs", "selector":".form_embed-wrapper756734019748_7", "activeTarget":true}" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Embed</span> </li> </ul> <div data-playerid="video_mpx756734019748_7" id="756734019748_7" class="js-play-video img-caption img-caption_video img-caption_lg"> <i class="fa fa-play" aria-hidden="true"></i> <strong><span id="title_video_mpx756734019748_7">SpaceX rocket explosion: What caused launch pad failure?</span></strong> <span>2:06</span> </div> <span style="font-size: smaller; color:#696969;" class="js-autoplay-toggle-on pull-right is-hidden">autoplay <i class="fa fa-check-square-o fa-1"></i></span> <span style="font-size: smaller; color:#696969;" class="js-autoplay-toggle-off pull-right is-hidden">autoplay <i class="fa fa-square-o fa-1"></i></span> <div class="js-video-embed form_embed-wrapper form_embed-wrapper756734019748_7 is-hidden"> </div> </div> </div> <p> <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/spacex-rocket-explodes-launch-pad-n641261">Related: SpaceX Rocket Explosion Destroys Facebook Internet Satellite</a> </p> <p> "We're continuing to make progress with the investigation into our Sept. 1 anomaly and we are working to safely and reliably return to flight in early January," SpaceX spokesman Phil Larson said in an emailed statement. </p> <p> First, however, the company will have to wrap an investigation into what went wrong. </p> <p> The months following the Falcon 9 explosion have brought many questions and few answers as investigators seek to determine the cause. The wait was too much for one SpaceX customer, Inmarsat, which opted last week to take its business to a European competitor, Arianespace. </p> <p> "Inmarsat is a long-time partner, and we wish them well with their upcoming mission," Larson said. </p> <p> The incident shows how a single anomaly can become a major setback for a space company, Jim Cantrell, Vector Space Systems CEO and a founding member of SpaceX, told NBC News. </p> <p> "This one was particularly devastating from an organizational perspective," he said, adding that SpaceX was hit with the "double whammy" of a damaged launch pad and losing a customer's (multi-million-dollar!) satellite. </p> <p> <strong>Related:<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/new-race-build-space-based-internet-n642131"></a></strong><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/new-race-build-space-based-internet-n642131"> The New Race to Build a Space-Based Internet</a> </p> <p> "These accidents are tough to come back from and it is often tough to get everybody to agree, 'this is really what happened,' and sometimes it's tough to fix it," he said. </p> <p> SpaceX's timeline is ambitious, but they've pulled it off in the past. After their Dragon capsule exploded en route to the International Space Station, the company was sidelined for six months. </p> <p> Orbital Sciences took a year to return to flight after its Antares rocket exploded in October 2014. NASA took years to resume shuttle flights after the Columbia explosion. </p> <p> The September accident has been particularly perplexing for Musk and his team. </p> <p> On Twitter, Musk appealed for the public's help for any photos or video taken from different angles of the anomaly, which he called "the most difficult and complex failure we've had in 14 years." </p> <div class="widget widget_tweet"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation. Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years.</p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/774150065166229504">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article_meta article_share-md-gutter article_max"> <div class="js-bottom-limit article_meta-container"> <div class="author_container"> <div class="author"> <div class="author_name">Alyssa Newcomb</div> <ul class="social-list social-list_author"> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/@alyssanewcomb" target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-twitter" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Twitter</span></a></li> <li><a href="mailto:alyssa.newcomb@nbcuni.com"><i class="fa fa-envelope-o" aria-hidden="true"></i><span class="screen-reader-txt">Email</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="flag_article-meta"> <span class="article_meta-title article_meta-title-sm">Topics </span><a class="flag flag_article-topic" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news">Tech News</a></div> <div class="timestamp_meta"> <span class="article_meta-title article_meta-title-sm">First Published</span> <time class="timestamp_article" datetime="2016-12-13T12:31:48.000Z" itemprop="datePublished">Dec 13 2016, 7:31 am ET</time> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row_article article-footer_container article_max"> <div class="article-nav article_share-md-gutter"> <div class="article-nav_container"> <span class="article_meta-title"><i class="fa fa-arrow-down" aria-hidden="true"></i> Next Story</span> <a id="next-story_695001" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/execs-facebook-microsoft-google-apple-prepare-tech-summit-trump-n695471">Execs from Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Prepare for Tech Summit with Trump</a> </div> </div> <div class="article_col-main article_col-main-left article-footer article_share-md-gutter"> <div class="ad-container ad-xs ad-sm ad-md ad-lg taboolabelow ad-hide"></div> </div> 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