The European Space Agency's latest Ariane-5 mission has been aborted with the rocket falling in pieces into the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the second failed attempt to get the new, more powerful version of Ariane-5 into the heavens.
The unmanned rocket, carrying a 10-tonne payload of two satellites, appeared to make a perfect lift-off from the Kourou base in French Guiana but three minutes later problems developed.
Arianespace, the ESA's commercial arm, said the nature of the "anomaly" was not immediately known. There was speculation it may have been a combustion problem.
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The Ariane-5 launch had been rescheduled after a botched lift-off on November 28th when the launcher's main engine failed to ignite.
AP