Originally Posted by
sandos
It is a fly or other insect, very close to the camera!
I doubt a fly or insect close to a telephoto lens focused on a rocket a couple of miles away would be visible as such a small speck. Sometimes you see these bugs on wideangle webcams with tiny sensors but that geometry is quite different I would say. I've been to KSC to photograph a daytime launch on the Atlas pad next to SLC-40 and you do get a lot of out of focus seabirds in the shots, maybe that is what we saw in the video.
Or, maybe not...
Elon Musk is still trying to pinpoint the source of a huge chain of explosions that destroyed SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket last week at Cape Canaveral.
"Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation," Musk said on Twitter. "Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years."
The company said that the explosion happened in preparation for a test firing of its engines. Musk revealed Friday that the engines had not yet fired when the explosion took place, adding to the mystery of what caused the blast.
"Important to note that this happened during a routine filling operation," Musk said. "Engines were not on and there was no apparent heat source."
In a reply to a Twitter user's question, Musk said he had not ruled out the possibility that something hit the rocket and caused the fireball.
The SpaceX CEO said he was focused on understanding a "quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off." He said the sound may have come from the rocket or another unidentified source.
Elon Musk: SpaceX rocket explosion is 'most difficult' failure in 14 years - Sep. 9, 2016