A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, loaded with 4,000 pounds of cargo intended to resupply the International Space Station, exploded just minutes after its launch from Florida.
A little more than two minutes into its flight from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, there was an explosion as the Falcon 9's first stage was about to separate from the upper stage carrying the cargo capsule, NASA confirmed.
"The vehicle has broken up," said NASA commentator George Diller, as live television footage showed pieces of the rocket showering down to the ground. ""We appear to have had a launch vehicle failure."
It was the first such failure on launch for a Falcon 9, built by Space Exploration Technology Corp., or SpaceX, the Southern California company headed by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Following the loss of the Falcon 9, Musk tweeted about a possible cause, saying an "overpressure" event occurred in the liquid oxygen tank of the rocket's upper stage.
"That's all we can say with confidence right now," he tweeted. "Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis."
A version of the Falcon 9 is intended to begin carrying U.S. astronauts to the ISS by 2017, but the latest catastrophe could impact those plans.
SpaceX and NASA will conduct an investigation into the June 28 launch failure, which could take months, and it is likely all scheduled Falcon 9 launches will be suspended for the time being.
The accident is a setback for private commercial space company SpaceX, which has until now been on a run of successful achievements.
It was the first private commercial launch company to put a spacecraft into orbit, rendezvous with the space station and deliver cargo and supplies there.
The failed launch was the seventh under a contract with NASA worth $1.6 billion for Spacex for 15 cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.
An additional goal for this mission was to have the rocket's first stage return to Earth to land on an ocean barge, part of SpaceX's plan to make launches into orbit less expensive by creating a launch vehicle that could be recovered and re-used.
Two previous attempts to recover Falcon 9 first stages failed when they landed hard on the barge and exploded.
The loss of supplies does not endangered the crew aboard the ISS, NASA says, noting they have at lest 4 months of supplies on board.
"We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months."
