SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes shortly after liftoff

The unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station, or ISS, exploded less than 10 minutes after liftoff Sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA said.

“After liftoff, an anomaly occurred. SpaceX is evaluating the issue,” NASA said in a Twitter post.

The last information received from the rocket was sent two minutes and 19 seconds after liftoff.

“We are disappointed in the loss of the latest SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts are safe aboard the station and have sufficient supplies for the next several months. We will work closely with SpaceX to understand what happened, fix the problem and return to flight,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

The SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services 7 mission was carrying 2.5 tons of supplies for the ISS.

This is the third SpaceX mission to experience problems this year.

SpaceX, run by billionaire Elon Musk and the first private company to get a contract from the U.S. government to provide rocket services, plans to launch its first manned space mission in 2017.