Watch: SpaceX Explosion at Cape Canaveral Destroys Facebook Satellite

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a Cape Canaveral launchpad Thursday morning, sending thick, black smoke into the sky and destroying a $200 million satellite that was set to be used in part for a Facebook internet initiative.

In a statement, the private spaceflight company attributed the launchpad explosion, which occurred shortly after 9 a.m., to "an anomaly on the pad" which resulted in a loss of the rocket and its payload. No one was injured in the explosion, the statement said.

SpaceX was scheduled to help deliver the Amos-6 satellite into orbit on Saturday, Sept. 3. The satellite included capabilities that Facebook was going to use as part of its Internet.org project to bring internet access to remote parts of the world.

You can watch video of the explosion below (it happens at about the 1:10 mark):

"We are disappointed by the loss but remain committed to our mission of connecting people to the internet around the world," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his disappointment:

SpaceX is the private spaceflight company run by billionaire tech investor Elon Musk, who also started PayPal and Tesla Motors.

SpaceX contracts with NASA and other organizations to carry satellites into orbit or deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The company has made headlines for its reusable rockets that can blast off to space, release a satellite or payload, drop back down to Earth and land upright on a floating platform autonomously.

It just performed such a landing on Aug. 15.

SpaceX has been clear in its goals to use reusable rocket technology to reduce the costs of sending things to space, including humans. Musk has repeatedly stated his ambitions to send humans to Mars and beyond.

Its latest task was to deliver the Amos-6 satellite into orbit on Saturday. Amos-6 was a 5.5-ton satellite developed by the defense and aerospace company Israel Aerospace Industries.

In October, Facebook and French satellite provider Eutelsat agreed to a 5-year, $95 million lease on some of Amos-6's broadband for Facebook's Internet.org project. Facebook partnered with Samsung, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera and Qualcomm to bring affordable internet access to underserved parts of the world.

"Today's incident reminds us that all space flight is an inherently risky business," Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said in a statement. "As we continue to push the frontiers of space, there will be both triumphs and setbacks. But at the end of the day, I'm confident that our commercial space industry will be very successful."

See images and video of the explosion from social media:

Image via USLaunchReport, YouTube