An explosion occurred during a SpaceX fueling operation at its launch site in Florida around 9:07 a.m. Eastern today, destroying a satellite that Facebook intended to use to provide internet connectivity to rural Africa, SpaceX officials and local authorities said. 
 
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 SpaceX was conducting a fueling test on Launch Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral when the incident took place, an engineer at the Kennedy Space Center told ABC News. 
 
 The explosion happened "in preparation for today's static fire," and resulted in "the loss of the vehicle and its payload," SpaceX said in a statement. 
 
 The explosion was felt around the facility, and a mushroom cloud could be seen over the launch site, the engineer told ABC News. 
 
 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the loss of the Falcon rocket today, "Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon." 
 
 Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation. Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2016 
 
 Danielle K/Twitter 
 
 Video from the scene showed smoldering infrastructure. 
 
 No Reported Injuries 
 
 There were no injuries as a result of the explosion, the Brevard County Emergency Management Office told ABC News. The office tweeted, "There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad at [Cape Canaveral] this morning." 
 
 Brian Purtell, a spokesman for the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, which controls Cape Canaveral's space operations, said that personnel were being evacuated from the facility. 
 
 "Once we determine everybody is out of there, then we can go in when it's safe to kind of determine what happened," he said, noting that SpaceX had a scheduled launch for early Saturday morning. 
 
 NASA released a statement Thursday evening expressing confidence in the private space company with which it contracts, saying, "we remain confident in our commercial partners," but warning that "it's too early to know whether the incident will affect the schedule for upcoming NASA-related SpaceX launches to the International Space Station." 
 
 Destroyed Payload 
 
 The rocket that was destroyed was carrying the AMOS-6 communications satellite, a spokesman for SpaceX told ABC News, adding that the mission was commercial and not for NASA. 
 
 SpaceX announced in January 2013 a deal with Space Communications Ltd. (Spacecom) to launch AMOS-6 into geosynchronous orbit sometime in 2015, which would "provide communication services, including direct satellite home internet for Africa, the Middle East and Europe," and was built by Israel Aerospace Industries. 
 
 A photo posted by Scott Neener (@scott_neener) on Sep 1, 2016 at 6:23am PDT 
 
 As part of its activities in space, the AMOS-6 was going to "provide internet coverage to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa" as part of Facebook's Internet.org initiatives to increase internet connectivity around the world, according to a posting on the social network by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. 
 
 Zuckerberg, who coincidentally is travelling in Kenya today, posted on Facebook: "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." 
 
 "We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided," he said. 
 
 In an email, a spokesman for Spacecom acknowledged the SpaceX statement, but did not add further details. 
 
 Israel Aerospace Industries said that it was, "disappointed about this incident," and was ready to provide assistance. The manufacturer said that the satellite was "the largest and most advanced communications satellite ever built in Israel." 
 
 ABC News’ Gina Sunseri, Fergal Gallagher, Dan Linden, Jason Volack, Jon Williams and Joyce Alcantara contributed to this report. 
 
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 SpaceX’s latest mission—a satellite launch to expand Facebook’s presence in Africa—went up in flames this morning during a routine rocket test at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 
 
 The company was test firing its unmanned rocket when it exploded at 9:07 a.m. Eastern time, according to a statement by the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There were no casualties and no threat to public safety, officials said. But they have set up roadblocks around the station. 
 
 Social media posts showed dark smoke billowing up from the launch site, which is next to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 
 
 According to Space X spokesperson Philip Larson, the rocket was carrying the Amos-6 satellite. It was destroyed. 
 
 Related Stories Inside Facebook’s Ambitious Plan to Connect the Whole World 
 
 The Amos-6 was built by Israeli communications firm Spacecom Ltd. and was owned and operated by Eutelsat from France. Facebook had purchased time on the satellite in order to beam Internet to parts of sub-Saharan Africa that the social media company is hoping to expand access to. 
 
 Facebook did not respond to a request for comment on what this setback will mean for its expansion program—of which the Amos-6 was a key part. 

 SpaceX Rocket And Its Cargo Explode On Launch Pad In Florida [VIDEO] 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Marcia Dunn/AP Marcia Dunn/AP 
 
 Two days before SpaceX was to launch a communications satellite that would widen Internet access in Africa, an unmanned rocket and its payload were destroyed in an explosion on a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Smoke billowed from the pad where the AMOS-6 satellite was to be launched Saturday morning. 
 
 A "significant explosion" hit the launch area early Thursday, the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Station tells member station WMFE's Brendan Byrne. It said no casualties were reported and that there was no threat to the public's safety. 
 
 SpaceX says "an anomaly on the pad" caused the explosion. Disaster struck as workers at the launch pad prepared for a test firing of the rocket. 
 
 The explosion occurred as the rocket was being filled with propellant, says SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who adds in a tweet that the blast originated near the upper stage oxygen tank. 
 
 YouTube 
 
 You can see the blast for yourself, thanks to a veterans group that had a camera trained on the space vehicle this morning. The explosion comes shortly after the 1:10 mark. 
 
 The launch, which had been planned for 3 a.m. ET Saturday, was significant for a number of reasons. 
 
 The payload included a communications satellite meant to provide direct Internet access to large and remote swaths of sub-Saharan Africa, in a program led by Facebook that also includes Eutelsat and Spacecom, the Israeli company that made the AMOS-6 satellite. 
 
 After the loss of the rocket and its payload, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted an update from Africa to say he is "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." 
 
 Zuckerberg added that his company has other technologies in the works, "and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided." 
 
 The explosion follows a run of recent successes for SpaceX, including landing part of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating barge as another stage continued into space. But there have been setbacks — including a rocket that exploded as it attempted to land on a barge in January, and another rocket that blew up shortly after takeoff last summer. 
 
 This is a breaking news story, and we'll update this post with reliable information as it emerges. 

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– A blast that sounded like thunder, then the sounds of more explosions: SpaceX's launch site was rocked by an explosion Thursday shortly after 9am. The company says in a statement that in preparation for Thursday's engine firing—a test carried out a few days before every launch—"there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload." Buildings several miles away were rattled by the blast, and explosions continued for several minutes. Science reporter Robin Seemangal tweeted that her source in the Operations and Checkout building "thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad." (This tweet shows the blast as seen on radar.) TV cameras showed smoke coming from the launch pad two hours later, the AP reports. The rocket was still standing, although the top third or so was clearly bent over. The test was in advance of a planned 3am Saturday launch of a communications satellite that would have extended Internet access in sub-Saharan Africa as part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, reports NPR. Wired sees the destruction of the AMOS-6 satellite as a "setback" for Facebook, though the company did not reply to a request for comment. ABC News highlights this tweet from the Brevard County Emergency Management Office: "There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad at [Cape Canaveral Air Force Station] this morning." There were no injuries reported.