Spacex

SpaceX won't have the opportunity to try its third barge landing in earnest. A launch vehicle failure has caused the Falcon 9 rocket to break up on ascent just about two minutes after launch.

For the time being, it's unclear exactly what the problem was. According to preliminary statements by SpaceX, it appears the Falcon 9's initial takeoff went fine, with all engines firing appropriately, but the cause of the failure and disintegration are still unknown.

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Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2015

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The vehicle experienced an anomaly on ascent. Team is investigating. Updates to come. — SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 28, 2015

SpaceX has dispatched a team to investigate the incident using video of the incident as well as data Falcon 9 was able to send back before it exploded. It could be a while before we find out precisely what occurred. SpaceX is set to hold a press conference regarding the incident later today.

The rocket was carrying 4,000 pounds of supplies, 30 student projects, two Hololenses, as well as a docking adapter for the ISS that would allow for future commercial crewed capsules to dock with the station. Fortunately there is another backup adapter still here on Earth.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has issued a statement on the loss of rocket, and the good news is that the astronauts on the ISS will be totally fine despite the loss of the shipment:

We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months. We will work closely with SpaceX to understand what happened, fix the problem and return to flight. The commercial cargo program was designed to accommodate loss of cargo vehicles.\

Here's some slow motion footage of the incident:

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And here's unedited footage of the entire launch, up to and including the disintegration:

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