Unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded during a static fire test t the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday Sep 01,2016

Unmanned SpaceX rocket was due to launch on Saturday Sep 03,2016 with Facebook's first communications satellite 

The rocket exploded during a static fire test early Thursday at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
 
There were no personal injuries in the blast, however, the rocket and payload were completely destroyed 
 
Buildings several miles away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes

Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the massive blast - which caused no injuries - is still unknown as the accident throws into question the future of his program of subcontracting his 'reusable' and 'recycled' rockets to NASA.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who confirmed that the company's satellite was destroyed in the huge blast, called it 'deeply disappointing,' as he is currently visiting several countries on the continent and likely would have marked the occasion of the satellite launch there had it been successful.  

 

 

SPACEX'S CHECKERED (AND EXPLOSIVE) HISTORY 

Founded in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Musk, SpaceX has been one of the driving forces behind the efforts by commercial companies to venture into space.

Previously the domain of government-sponsored national agencies like Nasa and Russia's Roscosmos, launching spacecraft into orbit was seen as being prohibitively expensive.

SpaceX, however, became the first privately funded company to launch a rocket powered by liquid-propellant into orbit in 2008 with its Falcon 1.

It later became the first to launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

With the end of the Nasa's Space Shuttle program, SpaceX has also stepped in to allow the US to continue to send supplies to the International Space Station.

In 2012 the company was the first private firm to send a spacecraft packed with cargo to resupply the space station.

This year alone it has achieved eight launches carrying supplies to the ISS and a number of satellites into orbit.

But SpaceX's journey has been hit with setbacks and problems.

Perhaps its worst accident to date occurred on June 28 2015 one of its Falcon 9 rockets carrying an unmanned Dragon capsule filled with cargo for the ISS exploded just minutes after launch.

An investigation into the explosion revealed a failed strut on the helium pressure vessels broke as it accelerated out of the atmosphere, allowing a catastrophic escape of gas.

Part of SpaceX's model for reducing the cost of space travel is to reuse its rockets.

But this has been beset with a series of accidents that saw the rockets topple over and explode during these landing attempts.

It lost two rockets after they failed to land safely before it managed to successfully land the first stage booster at Kennedy Space Centre on December 21 2015.

Freezing fog that caused a landing leg to fail to lock caused another rocket to topple over on a barge in January 2016 on landing.

Since then the company has managed to land four of its Falcon 9 launch rockets on floating barges at sea.

But on 15 June,2016 another of its rockets toppled over and was destroyed after managing to touch down on a barge.

The company has also had problems while in orbit. In March 1 2013 a Dragon spacecraft suffered thruster issues due to a blacked fuel valve leaving it unable to properly control itself before docking with the ISS.

On this occasion engineers were able to remotely clear the blockages and the craft docked with the ISS one day later than scheduled.