An explosion took place at the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch site on Thursday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX confirmed the explosion happened on its Twitter account. SpaceX designs, builds and launches rockets and spacecraft.
"SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today's standard pre-launch static fire test, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload," the company's Twitter account read. "Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries."
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company is still looking for the cause.
Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2016
Photos were widely distributed via Twitter.
Wow! Here's what the @SpaceX explosion looked like!
Credit: USLaunchReport pic.twitter.com/9LV96Jig6B
— CosmosRevealed (@CosmosRevealed) September 1, 2016
According to The Associated Press, NASA said SpaceX was doing a routine test firing of an unmanned rocket set to send an Israeli satellite into space this weekend. The rocket and communications satellite it was carrying were both destroyed, according to SpaceX.
The satellite was expected to help Africa gain better internet capabilities. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted about his disappointment on Facebook.
