CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – A massive explosion rocked a SpaceX launch pad Thursday during a routine rocket test for a planned weekend launch.
There were no injuries, but the rocket and the satellite onboard were destroyed, SpaceX said in a statement.
The company was conducting a test firing of its unmanned Falcon rocket when the blast occurred shortly after 9 a.m. The test was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was supposed to hoist an Israeli communications satellite.
SpaceX said that in preparation for Thursday’s engine firing – a test carried out a few days before every launch – “there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload.” There were no additional details provided.
It’s the same kind of SpaceX rocket used to launch space station supplies for NASA, and represented a major setback for the space agency’s plans for future cargo hauls and, ultimately, astronaut flights.