SpaceX rocket: Explosion at Kennedy Space Center ahead of launch

Photo: NASA

There has been an explosion on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the aerospace company SpaceX was readying an unmanned rocket for launch, the BBC reports.

The cause of the blast is not clear and it is not known if anyone was hurt.

Nasa said SpaceX was test-firing a rocket which was due to take a satellite into space this weekend.

Pictures from the scene show a huge plume of smoke rising above the Cape Canaveral complex.

The force of the blast shook buildings several miles away.

Local emergency officials described the incident as a “catastrophic abort during a static test fire”.

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS