Was carrying supplies to International Space Station
An unmanned US cargo rocket, carrying supplies to the International Space Station, exploded within seconds of its launch on Tuesday evening from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility along the eastern Virginia coast.
The 14-storey Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, a Virginia-based private company, were a total wreck as the crash brought everything down in a massive ball of fire and smoke. There were no human casualties or injuries, though.
The rocket and payload were worth $200 million, officials said. It was not clear to what extent the launch facility has been damaged.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. In a tweet shortly after the explosion, Orbital Sciences Corp. spoke of “a vehicle anomaly”, without elaborating. In a subsequent statement, the company called it “a catastrophic failure”, saying it will conduct “a thorough investigation” to determine the cause and corrective steps.
“This shows how difficult and maddening this business really is,” NASA’s Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier told a news conference.
The Antares rocket was carrying 4,483 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station including 1,360 pounds of food. The Cyngus cargo logistics spacecraft that was also destroyed was to have orbited above the Earth and was set to dock with the ISS on November 2.
“While NASA is disappointed that Orbital Sciences’ third contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station was not successful today, we will continue to move forward toward the next attempt once we fully understand today’s mishap,” Gerstenmaier said in a statement.
He, however, said the ISS crew was in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies.
In fact, just hours after the Virginia mishap, an unmanned Russian spacecraft, successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was on its way to ISS with nearly 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies. That craft was due to reach the station later on Wednesday.
Supportive of Orbital’s efforts, despite the stark failure, the NASA official said the company “has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first two missions to the station earlier this year, and we know they can replicate that success”.
“launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking, and we learn from each success and each setback. Today’s launch attempt will not deter us from our work to expand our already successful capability to launch cargo from American shores to the International Space Station,” Gerstenmaier said.