(Photo : REUTERS/Bob Strong ) The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule, lifts off from the Cape Canveral Air Force Station.


A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by SpaceX exploded in midair during a test mission at the company's facility in Texas.



The reusable rocket self-destructed after its systems detected a malfunction. SpaceX was testing a three-engine version of the F9R test vehicle, a successor to the resusable Grasshopper rocket designed to launch and land at the same site.



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SpaceX said there was an anomaly in the launch vehicle during the flight. The flight termination system automatically detected the anomaly and aborted the mission.



The McGregor fire department confirmed an explosion over the Texas prairie Friday night. Firefighters were working to put out the fire by early evening. Nobody was hurt or injured by the flaming debris.



SpaceX conducted this test mission to observe the ability of the F9R development vehicle to take off, maneuver and land vertically.



The F9R Dev is the modified first stage of the company's Falcon 9 rocket used as a test bed for missions that will allow the vehicle to be used during back and forth space missions from Earth.



The rocket never veered off course and there was a representative from the Federal Aviation Administration during the test mission on site.



SpaceX also explained how the test mission went awry. It noted how complex the tests were and how it's pushed the limits and boundaries of the rocket beyond those of previous tests.



SpaceX will review flight details and data to learn more about the rocket's performance. It's currently competing for a NASA contract to send astronauts to the International Space Station.



This failure may or may have affect NASA's decision. NASA did not comment on the incident.



Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, Tesla Motors and PayPal, stressed the difficulties of this test mission by tweeting, "Rockets are tricky."




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