
This is the dramatic moment the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket suffered a catastrophic explosion on the Cape Canaveral launch pad during a routine pre-launch check on Thursday morning.

The blast, which shook buildings and windows miles away, occurred shortly after 9am and destroyed Facebook's $200million Amos-6 satellite that was set to launch on Saturday morning aboard the reusable rocket.

Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the massive blast - which caused no injuries - is still unknown as the accident throws into question the future of his program of subcontracting his 'reusable' and 'recycled' rockets to NASA.

The satellite would have opened up free internet to more than 14 countries in Africa to serve the most populated areas more efficiently.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who confirmed that the company's satellite was destroyed in the huge blast, called it 'deeply disappointing,' as he is currently visiting several countries on the continent and likely would have marked the occasion of the satellite launch there had it been successful.

The mishap dealt a severe blow to SpaceX, still scrambling to catch up with satellite deliveries following a launch accident last year. It's also a setback for NASA, which has been counting on the private company to keep the International Space Station stocked with supplies and, ultimately, astronauts.

The video, which appeared on US Launch Report, shows the blast appearing to originate near the second stage or inter stage area of the rocket before it sent the faring, or payload, toppling over onto the ground creating another explosion.

The test was in advance of Saturday's planned launch from from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is next to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, of an Israeli-made communications satellite that was supposed to provide home internet for Africa and the Middle East.

'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. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries,' a SpaceX spokesman said to DailyMail.com in an email.





Kaboom:NASA says SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred Thursday morning

The video shows the blast appearing to originate near the second stage or inter stage area of the rocket before it sent the faring, or payload, toppling over onto the ground creating another explosion

Huge flames could be seen shooting into the sky during the massive explosion on Thursday morning

Buildings and windows up to a mile away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes

Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion - which caused no injuries - is still unknown

The faring, or payload, portion of the rocket (left) is seen toppling over onto the ground creating another explosion (right)

The mishap dealt a severe blow to SpaceX, still scrambling to catch up with satellite deliveries following a launch accident last year

It's also a setback for NASA, which has been counting on the private company to keep the International Space Station stocked with supplies and, ultimately, astronauts

Black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky miles away after the explosion Thursday morning

No additional details were provided. It wasn't clear whether the rocket caused the problem or something else on the pad. The pad is normally cleared of workers before test firings.

The Brevard County Emergency Management Office said: 'There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad at CCAFS this morning.'

Buildings several miles away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes.

Dark smoke filled the overcast sky, and a half-hour later, a black cloud hung low across the eastern horizon.

It's the same kind of SpaceX rocket used to launch space station supplies for NASA.

NASA - SpaceX's major customer - said the explosion occurred at Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force station, and Kennedy emergency staff was on standby.

The initial blast sent next-door NASA employees rushing frantically outside to see what happened.

At first, it sounded like lightning, but was followed by the sounds of more explosions, then more and more.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent the above tweet about the explosion in Florida Thursday afternoon

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote about the explosion, confirming that the company's satellite was destroyed and said he was 'deeply disappointed'

Detonation: Smoke rises from a SpaceX launch site on Thursday at Cape Canaveral after a test firing of its unmanned rocket went wrong and an explosion occurred

NASA spokesman Al Feinberg said emergency personnel were monitoring the situation and standing by to assist

'Heard/felt weird BOOMS this morning as SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded ... Thank God no injuries!' one local woman, Evie Hedman, wrote on Twitter.

Robin Seemangal, a space reporter with the Observer newspaper, quoted a source at the facility who told him it felt like the office they were in had been hit by lightning.

'We actually thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad,' Seemangal wrote in a tweet, quoting his source.

It was not immediately known to what extent SpaceX's launch pad was damaged or what the impact would be on the dozens of NASA and commercial satellite missions on its launch schedule.

Before every launch, SpaceX conducts static fire tests of a rocket's engines to make sure everything is operating correctly prior to the launch day.

NASA spokesman Al Feinberg said emergency personnel were monitoring the situation and standing by to assist, and the air quality was being monitored for any potential threats to employees, according to NBC News.

The air quality was being monitored for any potential threats to employees at the space center, as black smoke fills the sky

The unmanned rocket was due to launch on Saturday on a mission to deliver Facebook's first communications satellite to orbit

On his personal Twitter account, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said: 'Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.'

The pad where SpaceX's rocket was being prepared for launch is one of two operated by the company. Its other launch site is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

It's mission was to use the same rocket booster that sent the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year.

TV cameras showed smoke coming from the launch pad three hours later. The rocket was still standing, although the top third or so was clearly bent over.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial rocket launches in the United States, will work with SpaceX to understand the cause of the accident, said agency spokesman Hank Price.

The rocket was supposed to launch the Amos-6 communication satellite, which included the capabilities for Facebook to spot-beam broadband for Facebook's Internet.org initiative.

Zuckerberg wrote about the devastating explosion on his Facebook page.

'As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent,' Zuckerberg wrote.

'Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well.

'We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.'

France-based satellite provider Eutelast and Facebook spent an estimated $95million on the satellite's Ka-band communication array for a five year lease.

The plan was to use the Amos-6 satellite from Israeli company Spacecom, to beam internet connections directly to smartphones in Southern, West and East Africa.

Roughly 14 countries would have received the service in the most populated areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Thursday's launch pad explosion could derail the sale of Spacecom for $285million to Beijing Xinwei Technology Group.

The companies unveiled the agreement last week, but said it was contingent on the successful launch of the satellite and completion of its in-orbit tests.

Before every launch, SpaceX conducts static fire tests of a rocket's engines to make sure everything is operating correctly prior to the launch day

The recovered first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is transported to the SpaceX hangar at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida back in May

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX (pictured) is planning to relaunch the second rocket it successfully landed, in the next few months. If it goes ahead, this would make it the first relaunch of the private space company's rockets

In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Spacecom said the satellite's loss will have 'a significant impact' on the company, and it would continue to provide updates about the situation.

Its shares closed down 8.9 percent at 38.95 shekels.

Back in October, Chris Daniels, the head of the internet.org initiate, said they were looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on the project.

FACEBOOK'S PLAN TO LAUNCH SATELLITE PROVIDING INTERNET ACCESS TO AFRICA In October 2015, Facebook announced its plans to launch a satellite to provide internet access to remote parts of Africa. The social media site worked with French firm, Eutelsat, to make the Amos-6 satellite to provide large parts of East, West and South Africa with web access. While internet-by-satellite is usually a costly option in the developing world, Mark Zuckerberg said he planned to make accessing the network affordable. The satellite is designed to connect the world to the web through Facebook's Internet.org free mobile data scheme - but it has been slammed by online right's groups. In an open letter, 67 online rights' groups said the project threatened freedom of expression, privacy and the principle of net neutrality - the idea that all data is treated equally online - because only selected services could take advantage of it. However, Mr Zuckerberg said the goal remains to give people a limited number of basic services for health, education and jobs, for example, arguing this is not in conflict with net neutrality principles. But he noted that access is offered as a partnership with local mobile operators, which agreed to offer certain services for free with an option to get the full Internet with a paid subscription. 'It's not sustainable to offer the whole Internet for free,' he continued. 'No operator could afford this.' Advertisement

'Facebook's mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa,' Daniels said.

'We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project and investigating new ways to use satellites to connect people in the most remote areas of the world more efficiently.'

The project was slammed by 67 online rights' groups in an open letter that said it threatened freedom of expression, privacy and the principle of net neutrality - the idea that all data is treated equally online - because only selected services could take advantage of it.

However, Zuckerberg said the goal remains to give people a limited number of basic services for health, education and jobs, for example, arguing this is not in conflict with net neutrality principles.

But he noted that access is offered as a partnership with local mobile operators, which agreed to offer certain services for free with an option to get the full Internet with a paid subscription.

'It's not sustainable to offer the whole Internet for free,' he continued. 'No operator could afford this.'

SpaceX is one of two companies shipping supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.

The company also is working on a crew capsule to ferry station U.S. astronauts; that first flight was supposed to come as early as next year.

Two NASA astronauts were conducting a spacewalk 250 miles up, outside the International Space Station, when the explosion occurred. Mission Control did not notify them of the accident, saying all communication was focused on the spacewalk.

The California-based company, led by Musk, had been ramping up with frequent launches to make up for a backlog created by a launch accident in June 2015.

In that mishap, a support strut evidently snapped in the upper stage; the problem was fixed.

SpaceX had planned to dispatch as many as nine more missions before the end of the year, including two flights to place a 20-member satellite network into orbit for Iridium.

SpaceX was next scheduled to take off in November for the orbiting laboratory, which flies 250 miles above Earth.

'NASA still is assessing what impacts, if any, the incident will have on future missions,' spokesman Michael Curie said in an email.

The company was leasing the pad from the Air Force for its Falcon launches.

SpaceX is also redoing a former shuttle pad at Kennedy for future manned flights for NASA.

The first crewed flight was supposed to take place by the end of next year. Boeing also is working to develop a crew capsule for NASA.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., whose single space shuttle flight ended 10 days before the Challenger disaster in 1986, said the SpaceX accident 'reminds us all that space flight is an inherently risky business.'

'As we continue to push the frontiers of space, there will be both triumphs and setbacks. But at the end of the day, I'm confident that our commercial space industry will be very successful,' Nelson said in a statement.

SPACEX'S CHECKERED (AND EXPLOSIVE) HISTORY Founded in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Musk, SpaceX has been one of the driving forces behind the efforts by commercial companies to venture into space. Previously the domain of government-sponsored national agencies like Nasa and Russia's Roscosmos, launching spacecraft into orbit was seen as being prohibitively expensive. SpaceX, however, became the first privately funded company to launch a rocket powered by liquid-propellant into orbit in 2008 with its Falcon 1. It later became the first to launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. With the end of the Nasa's Space Shuttle program, SpaceX has also stepped in to allow the US to continue to send supplies to the International Space Station. In 2012 the company was the first private firm to send a spacecraft packed with cargo to resupply the space station. This year alone it has achieved eight launches carrying supplies to the ISS and a number of satellites into orbit. But SpaceX's journey has been hit with setbacks and problems. Perhaps its worst accident to date occurred on June 28 2015 one of its Falcon 9 rockets carrying an unmanned Dragon capsule filled with cargo for the ISS exploded just minutes after launch. An investigation into the explosion revealed a failed strut on the helium pressure vessels broke as it accelerated out of the atmosphere, allowing a catastrophic escape of gas. Part of SpaceX's model for reducing the cost of space travel is to reuse its rockets. But this has been beset with a series of accidents that saw the rockets topple over and explode during these landing attempts. It lost two rockets after they failed to land safely before it managed to successfully land the first stage booster at Kennedy Space Centre on December 21 2015. Freezing fog that caused a landing leg to fail to lock caused another rocket to topple over on a barge in January 2016 on landing. Since then the company has managed to land four of its Falcon 9 launch rockets on floating barges at sea. But on 15 June this year another of its rockets toppled over and was destroyed after managing to touch down on a barge. The company has also had problems while in orbit. In March 1 2013 a Dragon spacecraft suffered thruster issues due to a blacked fuel valve leaving it unable to properly control itself before docking with the ISS. On this occasion engineers were able to remotely clear the blockages and the craft docked with the ISS one day later than scheduled. Advertisement

SpaceX was planning on carrying out their first manned rocket launch within a year, but the future of that project is unknown.

SpaceX has yet to respond to MailOnline with further details.

Shares of Musk's companies Tesla Motors (TSLA.O) and SolarCity (SCTY.O) were down 4 percent at $203.65 and 5.5 percent at $19.50 respectively in morning trade.

Tesla and SolarCity are not tied financially to SpaceX and it was not immediately clear if the explosion had affected their prices.

SpaceX says it has a backlog of more than $10billion worth of launch orders from customers including NASA and commercial companies.

SpaceX has made history with its Falcon 9 successfully launching its Falcon 9 rocket into space and returning it to Earth in one piece.

Earlier this week SES and SpaceX revealed the historic plan to launch an satellite SES-10 on a flight-proven Falcon 9 orbital rocket booster.

It will be the first-ever satellite to launch on a SpaceX flight-proven rocket booster.