A SpaceX craft designed to take Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station appears to have exploded during tests.
A leaked video shared across social media showed a Crew Dragon capsule suffer a malfunction on a test stand, months ahead of the first planned mission with astronauts.
The private space firm said in a statement that it experienced an issue during a series of engine tests over the weekend in Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, it did not confirm the legitimacy of the leaked video.
“The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand,” the company said.
Visitors to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral over the weekend also captured images of an orange plume of smoke rising from a facility usually used for SpaceX tests.
Nasa did not comment on the video but administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that the space agency was in conversations with SpaceX.
“The Nasa and SpaceX teams are assessing the anomaly that occurred today during a part of the Dragon Super Draco Static Fire Test at SpaceX Landing Zone 1 in Florida,” he tweeted. “This is why we test. We will learn, make the necessary adjustments and safely move forward with our Commercial Crew Program.”
SpaceX has already successfully flown the Dragon capsule, with an unmanned mission taking it up to the ISS earlier this year.
It docked autonomously with the space station before splashing down in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida.
News of the explosion comes amid reports of a Tesla vehicle exploding in China.
Elon Musk, who is the chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, is yet to comment on either incident.
