A SpaceX Falcon 9R rocket exploded mid-flight over McGregor, Texas, early evening Friday. The rocket destroyed itself after detecting an internal fault, SpaceX said.
"During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission," the private space flight company said in a statement.
The exploded rocket was a Falcon 9R, the model that successfully delivered the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station in 2012.
Space X's rocket falling out of the sky in pieces!! pic.twitter.com/Kf1rS12WNR— Heath Huffman (@huffman_heath) August 22, 2014
The Falcon 9R rocket is a successor to the Falcon 9, which was nicknamed Grasshopper because it can land upright on retractable legs.
SpaceX's founder Elon Musk had apparently expected malfunctions in developing the new technology.
"I do think there probably will be some craters along the way; we’ll be very lucky if there are no craters," SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2012.
Three engine F9R Dev1 vehicle auto-terminated during test flight. No injuries or near injuries. Rockets are tricky …— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2014
This rocket was unmanned, and SpaceX's statement confirms that there were "no injuries or near injuries."
Locals may not completely agree. In a conversation with Mashable via Twitter, McGregor resident @EthansMommy17, who tweeted the below image of the explosion, claimed cows had been killed by debris from the explosion. She was unable to provide images or other confirmation of the affected livestock, however.
At press time, SpaceX had not responded to our request for comment.
#spaceX rocket blew up :( pic.twitter.com/u41286gstr— Mandy (@EthansMommy17) August 22, 2014