SpaceX's Mysterious Rocket Explosion Gets a Little Bit Clearer

On the morning of September 1, just before a routine pre-flight ignition test, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded. In an instant, the 277 foot-tall space vehicle and its 200 million satellite cargo disappeared into a ball of flames. SpaceX has been fairly mum with details on what went wrong last month on Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. But, considering it is SpaceX's second launch failure in 15 months, the explosion is a more tangible measure of the company's future than its highly-publicized (and hypothetical) plan to settle Mars. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the problem may have been operational--rather than a manufacturing or design flaw of the rocket itself.