Unmanned Mission Was To Have Carried Science, Supplies To ISS

An unmanned Orbital Antares rocket exploded on launch from the Wallops Spaceflight  Facility in Virginia at 1822 EDT Tuesday.

Video of the launch shows the rocket lifting just above the launch towers when there appeared to be an explosion in the spacecraft's main engine. The rocket settled back to the ground and erupted into an orange fireball.

At a news conference a little after 2100 EDT, NASA officials called the accident a "catastrophic anomaly". The rocket was carrying a Cygnus cargo vessel loaded with science and supplies for the station. The flight was to have been Orbital's third resupply mission to ISS.

NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Bill Gerstenmaier said the accident shows that launching a rocket into space is "really a tough business. Tonight's events show how difficult it is to do this task of launching cargo to the space station."

There is as yet no indication what happened to the rocket. Frank Culbertson, Orbital executive vice president and general manager, said that he was thankful that there were no injuries either on board the rocket or on the ground. "All we lost was hardware," Culbertson said. "Something went wrong, and we will find out what that is, we will correct that, and we will come back and fly again here at Wallops."

Orbital will lead the investigation to determine the cause of the accident. Culbertson said that the telemetry from the spacecraft will be analyzed, as well as debris from the rocket.

About that debris, Culbertson said that "this is an accident site, and this is a rocket. There was a lot of hazardous material on board." He said anyone who finds any of the debris, which may wash up out of the ocean, should not touch it, but to contact authorities so that it can be collected.

The investigation is expected to begin in earnest at daybreak Wednesday.

Mike Suffredini, NASA’s International Space Station Program Manager, said that while there were supplies aboard the Cygnus spacecraft, there are still plenty of supplies on board the station to sustain the astronauts working there. "We lost a lot of hardware," Suffredini said. "Will work with the various providers to replace that hardware and get it to space station."

(Image from NASA TV)

FMI: www.nasa.gov