SpaceX rocket explodes at launch site in Florida

There were no injuries.

“Key will be how SpaceX addresses the root cause analysis (i.e., insight from the government), how long it takes to get to root cause, etc”, a source with intimate knowledge of the launch facilities and national security space launch capabilities said in an email.

An explosion has destroyed a rocket during test firing at Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was expected to operate for 16 years in part on behalf of Facebook and bring Internet connectivity to sub-Saharan Africa and television service to providers in Europe and the Middle East. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the project in June 2015.

In the same tweet in which Musk asserted that astronauts would be saved from Falcon’s destruction on Thursday, he also denied that the blast that destroyed the rocket and the satellite was an explosion.

The explosion, which shook buildings “several miles away”, occurred around 9 a.m. and came as the company was conducting a routine fire test of the rocket’s engine in anticipation of a scheduled satellite launch on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Dramatic footage broadcast by ABC News showed the rocket burst into a roaring ball of flame amid what appeared to be a succession of blasts – sending its payload tumbling to the ground as a dense plume of black smoke filled the air.

No one was on the launch pad during the explosion and no one was injured. The rocket was still standing, although the top third or so was clearly bent over.

Nasa said Kennedy emergency staff were on standby and personnel were monitoring the air for any toxic fumes.

The Air Force’s 45th Space Wing said on twitter that “initial reports indicated no causalities and no threat to public safety”.

While the pad was still burning, it was off-limits.

Two NASA astronauts were doing a spacewalk 250 miles up, outside the space station, when the explosion occurred.

“As we continue to push the frontiers of space, there will be both triumphs and setbacks”, he said.

“The launch for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Mission remains on track for September 8”, NASA said.

A leading Israeli space official said the loss of the Amos-6 satellite, valued at more than $US200 million (nearly $NZ275m) and owned by Spacecom, was a major blow to the industry.

They have done some things just in the last few years that are nearly (like) Buck Rogers in recovery of some of the rocket components and the launch schedule. Mission Control did not immediately advise them of the accident.

NASA later put out a statement, saying the space agency remains confident in its commercial partners, SpaceX included. That failure was linked to a two-foot-long, inch-thick strut that snapped in a liquid oxygen tank.

The mishap probably means a delay of months to SpaceX’s flight manifest, depending on its cause. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said the accident was a reminder that spaceflight is risky.