Unmanned SpaceX rocket explodes soon after launch
Florida
An unmanned American Falcon-9 rocket burst into flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Debris from the SpaceX vehicle fell from the sky into the Atlantic Ocean.
The rocket was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station.
NASA says important supplies have been lost but the orbiting lab's crew is safe.
Even now, the three astronauts have sufficient stores of food, water and equipment to operate until late October, and Russian and Japanese freighters may visit often.
The problem occurred 139 seconds into the flight, just before the first-stage of the rocket was about to separate from the upper-stage, or top segment of the Falcon-9.
"There was an overpressure event in the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank," tweeted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX will now lead an investigation, overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA, which contracts the California company commercially to resupply the station.
This means there will be no further Falcon-9 launches in the immediate future.
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