Rising U.S. Rocket Explodes Into Rain of Fiery Debris

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An unmanned rocket carrying a $40-million navigation satellite for the Air Force blew up 13 seconds after liftoff Friday in a spectacular cascade of flaming debris.

Nearly 200 people had gathered at two viewing sites, one of them less than a mile from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site. In addition, 73 launch team members were in the blockhouse next to the pad.

When the $55-million Delta rocket exploded at an altitude of 1,589 feet, an Air Force officer announced over a loudspeaker: “Take cover immediately from falling debris. I’ll say again: Take cover immediately from falling debris.”

In the typical dry jargon of a launch commentator, McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s Anne Toulouse calmly reported: “We have had an anomaly.”

Burning chunks of debris plummeted into the ocean and a cleared safety zone on Air Force property, the Air Force said. The boom could be heard several miles away. Smoke was still rising from the fragments on the ground an hour later.

No injuries were reported, and the cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Sheriff’s deputies advised people to stay indoors with their windows closed for about 90 minutes as a precaution against the towering cloud of smoke. But the Air Force said the cloud quickly drifted offshore and contained hardly any toxic fumes.

The rocket was carrying the first in a new generation of Global Positioning System satellites that can enable people to pinpoint time to within a millionth of a second, speed to a fraction of a mile per hour and location to within a few feet. It was built by Lockheed Martin Corp.