SpaceX successfully launches a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida on Sunday on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The rocket takes off from a launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center that has seen off some of Nasa’s most famous missions, but has gone unused since the agency retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011 </s> An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Thursday (Reuters photo)

MIAMI — An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on Thursday on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida during a test, destroying it along with its payload, but causing no injuries, the private space firm said.

The blast marks a major setback for California-based SpaceX and its founder, internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who wants to revolutionise the launch industry by making rocket components reusable.

A dense plume of black smoke filled the air following the blast, which destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that Falcon had been due to deliver into orbit on Saturday.

Facebook was due to use the Amos-6 satellite to provide broadband internet coverage for swathes of sub-Saharan Africa as part of the social media giant's Internet.org initiative.

The US space agency NASA said the incident took place shortly after 9:00am (1300 GMT).

"SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today's static fire, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload," the company said. "Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries."

Brevard County Emergency Management said there was no threat to the public from the incident.

Amos-6 was the heaviest payload to date for a SpaceX rocket, with an estimated value of between $200 and $300 million, according to John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

The accident — the second of its kind in the firm's history — is expected to significantly disrupt SpaceX plans for six more launches between now and January 2017.

"It's clearly a setback, but how great the setback is and how long the delay, it's impossible to know until there is more information available," said Logsdon.

A NASA spokeswoman told AFP that emergency services at the nearby Kennedy Space Centre were monitoring the situation and conducting air quality tests to ensure there is no threat to the health of staff.

Officials at the center advised all staff to remain inside until further notice.

SpaceX had successfully launched a Falcon 9 last month, sending a Japanese communications satellite into orbit and then landing the rocket on a floating drone ship.

The explosion comes just over a year after a Falcon 9 rocket failed just after liftoff, on June 28, 2015, destroying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the International Space Station.

The firm has also lost several rockets as it attempted to land them upright on an ocean platform at the end of a flight. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX postponed a planned launch on Monday of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA's latest planet-hunting satellite for 48 hours, citing problems with a guidance-navigation control system, launch team officials said.

Blast-off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida has been delayed until at least Wednesday, according to Space Exploration Technologies, which NASA contracted to loft its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, into orbit.

 

 (Reporting by Joey Roulette at Cape Canaveral, Florida; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler) </s> (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP). In this photo provided by NASA, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, is seen at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, June 3, 2017. SpaceX is trying a...

(Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP). In this photo provided by NASA, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, is seen at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, June 3, 2017. SpaceX is trying a...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on SpaceX trying to launch first recycled supply ship to the International Space Station (all times local).:

SpaceX has launched its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station.

An unmanned Falcon rocket lifted off Saturday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with a Dragon capsule that made a station delivery nearly three years ago.

Eight minutes later, the first-stage booster used to launch it was back home in Cape Canaveral following another successful landing. SpaceX Mission Control declared, "The Falcon has landed." Soon afterward, the refurbished Dragon was safe in orbit.

The booster used Saturday is new, but as is now the custom, returned for a vertical touchdown. It's all part of SpaceX's long-term effort to save money through reusability.

As for the Dragon, when it reaches the orbiting lab Monday, it will be the first returning craft since the now-retired shuttles.

SpaceX has launched its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station.

An unmanned Falcon rocket lifted off Saturday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with a Dragon capsule that made a station delivery nearly three years ago. When this refurbished Dragon reaches the orbiting lab Monday, it will be the first returning craft since the now-retired shuttles.

The same capsule is back for take two after a few modifications and much testing.

The first-stage booster used Saturday is new, but as is now the custom, will attempt to return to Cape Canaveral following liftoff. It's all part of SpaceX's long-term effort to save money through reusability.

Besides the usual supplies, the 6,000-pound shipment includes mice and flies for research.

The flight was delayed two days by thunderstorms.

SpaceX is trying again to launch its first recycled supply ship to the International Space Station.

Forecasters at Florida's Kennedy Space Center are cautiously optimistic storms won't halt Saturday afternoon's countdown like they did Thursday.

Atop the Falcon rocket is a Dragon capsule loaded with 6,000 pounds of station cargo. The same Dragon made a delivery to the orbiting outpost for NASA in 2014 and then was refurbished for an unprecedented second flight. SpaceX will attempt to recover this new rocket booster for recycling, too. The first-stage booster will aim for a landing at Cape Canaveral following liftoff.

SpaceX hopes to slash launch costs by reusing its rockets and capsules. For now, savings are minimal because of all the inspections and tests performed on the already flown parts.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> SpaceX has blasted off its unmanned Dragon cargo ship, loaded with supplies, science experiments and food for the astronauts living at the International Space Station - but failed to land the rocket.

However, the launch was marred by a system failure on the rocket which caused it to land in the sea, instead of on land SpaceX at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, as planned.

SpaceX quickly cut the live feed from the rocket as it began to spin out of control.

Moments later, it said 'It appears stage 1 has made a water landing off the coast of Cape Canaveral.'

Elon Musk later confirmed the issue, saying 'Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea.'

'Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data.

He later added that the rocket appeared in good shape, and could be reused on a future mission.

The mission had been a complete success until the aborted landing.

'We have had a great liftoff,' said SpaceX commentator John Insprucker, as the Falcon 9 rocket soared into the sunny, blue sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:16 pm (1816 GMT), carrying 5,600 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of gear.

The mission is SpaceX's 16th for NASA, as part of a long-term contract to ferry supplies to space.

The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on its operational cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station lifts off from space launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018. However, the launch was marred by a system failure on the rocket which caused it to land in the sea

It was initially meant to take off Tuesday, but was delayed for a day after engineers discovered moldy mouse food in one of the science investigations designed to study the effect of microgravity on the immune system.

The bad food was replaced ahead of Wednesday's launch.

Other experiments among the more than 250 on board include a new kind of mustard green lettuce that astronauts will grow in space.

The Dragon space capsule that flew on Wednesday was used once before, on a supply mission in February 2017.

It should arrive at the space station on Saturday morning. </s> SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon 9 rocket for its 10th resupply mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and research materials. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the final Block 4 version of the launch vehicle to be launched, lifted of from the Cape’s Space Launch Complex 40 on a mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, June 29, 2018.

The flight got underway at 5:42 a.m. EDT (09:42 GMT) with the CRS-15 Dragon spacecraft perched atop the approximately 230-foot (70-meter) tall F9. The “flight-proven” Dragon spacecraft was tasked with carrying an estimated 5,900 pounds (2,676 kilograms) worth of supplies and equipment to low-Earth orbit (LEO). From there, it is scheduled to rendezvous with the ISS on July 2.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The last Block 4 variant of the Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida on June 29, 2018. The mission, a cargo run to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract. The CRS-15 cargo Dragon spacecraft began its ascent toward the International Space Station at 5:42 a.m. EDT. Photos courtesy: Scott Schilke, Mike Deep, Mike Howard, Michael McCabe, Vikash Mahadeo, Andy Sokol with Turbofox Photography CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The last Block 4 variant of the Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida on June 29, 2018. The mission, a cargo run to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract. The CRS-15 cargo Dragon spacecraft began its ascent toward the International Space Station at 5:42 a.m. EDT. Photos courtesy: Scott Schilke, Mike Deep, Mike Howard, Michael McCabe, Vikash Mahadeo, Andy Sokol with Turbofox Photography </s> An explosion rocked SpaceX’s launch site in Florida on Thursday morning, destroying a Falcon 9 rocket set for liftoff this weekend and its payload, the company has confirmed.

The explosion occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force station shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific time, sending dark clouds of smoke into the sky and shaking buildings miles away.

SpaceX said in a statement that while preparing for a static test fire, an “anomaly on the pad resulted in the loss of the vehicle and its payload.” SpaceX was set to launch an Israeli communications satellite this weekend.

Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and no one was injured, SpaceX said.

Kennedy Space Center’s Emergency Operations Center is “monitoring the situation” and is standing by for assistance if required, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Martin said in a statement.

The explosion could be a huge setback for SpaceX, which this week announced that it had signed its first customer to launch a satellite with a reusable rocket.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has estimated that reusing rockets could eventually cut launch costs 30%.

The Hawthorne company, whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has already hit major milestones, proving that it can successfully land its rocket boosters.

The company must prove that it can safely and reliably reuse rockets to fulfill its core mission to increase the frequency and lower the cost of launches.

In June 2015, a SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station disintegrated over the Florida coast two minutes after liftoff.

7:37 a.m.: This article was updated with confirmation from SpaceX

7:10 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 6:40 a.m. </s> SpaceX's 16th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station was a success on Wednesday, but the Falcon 9 rocket in-use failed its attempt to return on land, instead plunking into the Atlantic Ocean about two miles off the Cape Canaveral coast.SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk tweeted video footage from the rocket's on-board camera showing the 230-foot-tall first stage booster spiraling through the atmosphere and attempting to emergency-land on the ocean surface rather than Landing Zone 1, the on-ground rocket pad it was intended to stick.“As much as we are disappointed in this landing, it shows the system overall knows how to recover from certain malfunctions," Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, said during a news conference after the launch. “The vehicle kept well away from where it could pose the slightest risk to public property.”The failure was caused by a hydraulic malfunction with the booster's grin fins, the square-shaped honeycombs jutting out of its sides used to stabilize the rocket's reentry to Earth. The booster was still communicating with mission control even as it was bobbing in the water on its side roughly two miles off the Cape Canaveral coast, Musk said.The botched landing wasn’t “mission critical,” the CEO tweeted, quelling assumptions that the overall mission was a failure."Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea. Appears to be undamaged & is transmitting data. Recovery ship dispatched," Musk tweeted.Responding to a question on Twitter, he added that SpaceX might still be able to reuse the rocket — which is currently covered in potentially corrosive saltwater — for an "internal SpaceX mission."Landing fiasco aside, the Falcon 9 successfully lifted off from its launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force station at 1:16 p.m., sending its Dragon cargo capsule on a three-day orbital journey to the International Space Station some 225 miles into space.There, Dragon will unload 5,600 pounds of supplies to the space station’s six-person crew on Saturday and stay docked until January 2019.Among the 5,600 pounds of research includes an "barley germination" experiment from Budweiser to test the beer-making process in space. "It could also provide valuable insight for the general agricultural community," Gary Hanning, director of Global Barley Research wrote in a mission news brief.Wednesday's mission marked SpaceX's 20th launch of 2018, with its final mission of the year targeted for December 18 from the same launchpad, SLC-40, sending a GPS satellite to space for the Air Force.NASA, as part of its effort to utilize the private sector and wean off Russian-made rockets, selected SpaceX for its Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing for its CST-100 Starliner capsule in 2014 to send humans to space as soon as 2019. SpaceX announced in November it will conduct its first uncrewed test of a Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon in January 2019 from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A.
SpaceX delays the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida due to a technical issue. The Falcon 9 will resupply the International Space Station.