The Unmanned SPACEX rocket has exploded over the Atlantic Ocean:

A mission by an unmanned SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket has ended in failure after it exploded after lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The rocket was supposed to despatch a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS).

The lower segment of the rocket was then meant to turn around and use its engines to bring itself down to a floating barge.

It was US company SpaceX’s third failed attempt at the manoeuvre.

Bids in January and April ended in explosive impacts in the Atlantic Ocean.

“The vehicle has broken up,” said Nasa commentator George Diller, after Nasa television broadcast images of the white rocket falling to pieces.

The SpaceX rocket was carrying 4,000 pounds of supplies for the three astronauts aboard the I.S.S.

In January:

“Close, but no cigar this time,” the company’s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, announced via Twitter shortly after the unprecedented touchdown effort.

Image: the Doppler weather radar site in Melbourne, Florida, picks up the explosion.