A SpaceX rocket exploded Thursday morning during a test on a launch pad in Cape Canaveral. 

In a statement the company reported no one was injured in the explosion at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 

Brevard County Emergency Management says in a statement on Twitter that there’s no danger to the public from the explosion. 

Florida Today reports witnesses saw a fireball, heard explosions and felt shock waves several miles away starting around 9 a.m. The newspaper reports: 
“The rocket was scheduled to launch the Amos-6 communications satellite for Israeli company Spacecom at 3 a.m. Saturday.

The satellite built by Israeli Aerospace Industries also was destroyed.

Facebook had planned to use some of the satellite’s capacity to expand its Internet.org initiative in Africa.”

Florida Today reports the rocket was a SpaceX Falcon 9. SpaceX is planning to send astronauts into space to the ISS in the next year and a half. 

Related Stories

This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2016.