WASHINGTON: The U.S. Air Force has put on hold a proposed project with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries from the remote Johnston Atoll in the Pacific, according to a report by Stars and Stripes, an independent military news outlet.
The decision follows a Reuters investigation that raised alarms from biologists and environmental experts, who warned that rocket tests could endanger large populations of seabirds nesting in the atoll’s protected wildlife refuge. Located about 1,300 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated U.S. territory known for its ecological sensitivity.
Neither the Air Force nor SpaceX has issued a public response to the suspension. Officials say the Air Force is now assessing alternative sites for the experimental cargo delivery program.
