Video: SpaceX Falcon9 Rocket Explodes Over Florida

A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket intended to lift off from Cape Canaveral Sunday has exploded in the skies over Florida.

This is the second time in recent months SpaceX, a commercial company, has witnessed an explosion of one its rockets meant to bring supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station.

Sunday’s launch initially went off without a hitch, but the Falcon 9 rocket split apart just minutes after its 10:21 a.m. liftoff.

“Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown,” Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO tweeted shortly after the explosion. “There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause. That’s all we can say with confidence right now.”

Musk said a full analysis of the explosion is under way.

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Charles Bolden, NASA’s administrator, says the loss is disappointing but notes astronauts on the space station are safe and have sufficient supplies to last them for several months.

“We will work closely with SpaceX to understand what happened, fix the problem and return to flight,” Bolden said in a statement. “The commercial cargo program was designed to accommodate loss of cargo vehicles. We will continue operation of the station in a safe and effective way as we continue to use it as our test bed for preparing for longer duration missions farther into the solar system.”

SpaceX also suffered a loss of an Antares rocket last October. That, too, was a cargo mission meant to resupply the International Space Station.

While there have been bumps in SpaceX’s program, Bolden appears confident the issues will be worked out.

“SpaceX has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first six cargo resupply missions to the station, and we know they can replicate that success,” Bolden said in the statement. “We will work with and support SpaceX to assess what happened, understand the specifics of the failure and correct it to move forward. This is a reminder that spaceflight is an incredible challenge, but we learn from each success and each setback.”

The failure in Sunday’s launch attempt, Bolden said, “will not deter us from our ambitious human spaceflight program.”

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