A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on its pad during a test Thursday morning at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. No one was injured.

Witnesses reported seeing a fireball, hearing multiple explosions, feeling shock waves in buildings several miles away at Kennedy Space Center and seeing a plume of smoke rising from Launch Complex 40 just after 9 a.m.

“SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today`s static fire, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload," SpaceX said in a statement. "Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.”

The rocket was preparing for a test-firing of its nine Merlin main engines as a standard check of their readiness for launch, and the area was cleared for that hazardous operation.

The rocket was scheduled to launch the Amos-6 communications satellite for Israeli company Spacecom at 3 a.m. Saturday.

The Air Force`s 45th Space Wing confirmed an explosion occurred at 9:07 a.m. It was not immediately clear if the failure began on the rocket or ground equipment.

The satellite built by Israel Aerospace Industries also was destroyed.

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

"I`m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX`s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was in Africa promoting the satellite`s benefits, in a post on his Facebook page. "We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided."

Brevard County Emergency Management Director Kimberly Prosser said the incident posed “no hazards to the general public.”

“We’re monitoring the situation, but there have been no requests for assistance,” she said.

KSC`s Emergency Operations Center personnel were monitoring the situation and standing by to assist if required, while the environmental health office monitored air quality to ensure it is safe for employees, said spokesman Mike Curie.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said the accident was a reminder that spaceflight is risky.

An explosion has rocked the SpaceX launch site in Florida. NASA says SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred on Thursday morning. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky. (Sept. 1) AP

“As we continue to push the frontiers of space, there will be both triumphs and setbacks," he said. "But at the end of the day, I’m confident that our commercial space industry will be very successful.”

In addition to launching satellites, SpaceX is one of two companies shipping cargo to the International Space Station commercially, and one of two companies preparing to launch astronauts to the ISS under NASA`s Commercial Crew Program.

SpaceX had hoped to launch two astronauts on a test flight to the station within a year.

The Falcon 9 suffered its only in-flight failure in June 2015, when a strut broke in the rocket`s upper stage, causing an oxidizer tank to rupture. The rocket has launched successfully nine times since then, including eight flights by an upgraded "full thrust" version.

There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad at CCAFS this morning.

SpaceX`s eight successful launches this year were its most in any calendar year, and it hopes to complete as many more before the end of the year, possibly including the debut of a heavy-lift Falcon rocket.

The mishap likely means a delay of months to SpaceX`s flight manifest, depending on its cause.

At the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce the explosion startled the staff.

“We were sitting here and all of a sudden it sounded like a sonic boom and the building started to shake,” said Denny Waktins of the chamber. “There were a couple of minor booms after that and then we went outside and saw the smoke plume. It was a well-defined plume, not like a controlled burn.”

An administrator at Titusville High School, just across the Indian River from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, said those at the school felt the effects of the explosion, but it was pretty similar to what they experience during a launch.

A teacher at Merritt Island High, one of the closest schools to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, said he and his students didn`t see or hear anything around the time of the launch.

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