An unmanned American SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket has broken apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Debris from the SpaceX vehicle tumbled out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean. The rocket, which had 18 straight successes prior to this flight, was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station. Nasa had loaded SpaceX’s Dragon freighter on the top of the Falcon with just over two tonnes of supplies.

The US space agency (Nasa) says important supplies have been lost but the orbiting lab’s crew is secure. Even now, the three astronauts have sufficient stores of food, water and equipment to operate until late October, and there should be visits from Russian and Japanese freighters before then. The problem occurred 139 seconds into the flight, just before the first-stage of the rocket was about to separate from the upper-stage, or top segment of the Falcon-9.

SpaceX will now lead an investigation, overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Nasa, which contracts the California company commercially to resupply the station.