SpaceX rocket explodes while heading to space station

[Towelie]

TORONTO â€" SpaceX has lost its Falcon 9 rocket as well as the Dragon spacecraft that was heading to the space station Sunday morning.

SpaceX was scheduled to launch its Dragon spacecraft aboard its Falcon 9 rocket at 10:21 a.m. Sunday morning. On board was a docking ring that would have prepared the space station to receive new commercial spacecraft.

“We appear to have had a launch vehicle failure,” announced NASA commentator George Diller.

“This is a tough day,” NASA’s top spaceflight official, William Gerstenmaier told reporters. He said there was nothing common among the three accidents, “other than it’s space and it’s difficult to go fly.”

The last data received was 2:19 into the launch. It was still unclear what happened and at what point the vehicle failed.