**FAILURE: Rocket and payload lost during anomaly originating around the upper stage oxygen tank during propellant load few minutes before static fire on Sept 1, 1307UTC.** Built to replace the existing AMOS-2 satellite, AMOS-6 will be positioned in a geostationary orbit at 4 degrees west. The 5500kg craft will contain 43 Ku/Ka-band transponders and 2 S-band transponders to provide communications coverage for Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The 2 solar arrays on the craft will provide 9kW of power for the satellite’s 16 year expected lifetime.

The Full Thrust variants first stage includes all systems necessary for an operational re-use of stages while the second stage is operated as an expendable rocket stage.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.