SpaceX Rocket Detonates After 'Anomaly' During Test Flight in Texas

A SpaceX prototype rocket automatically detonated after an 'anomaly' was detected during a test flight Friday in McGregor, Texas, the company told NBC News on Friday night. No one was injured.

John Taylor, a spokesman for SpaceX, said the rocket was a three-engine version of the F9R test vehicle, the successor to the company's Grasshopper, a prototype intended to pave the way for fully reusable rockets that would fly themselves back home. It's tested at the company's rocket development facility near McGregor, which employs 250 people.

'During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission,' Taylor said in an email to NBC News. A representative of the Federal Aviation Administration was present, he said.

IN-DEPTH SOCIAL - M. Alex Johnson

First published August 22 2014, 5:15 PM