CAPE CANAVERAL: A 14-story US rocket, Antares, exploded soon after its flight from a commercial launch pad in Virginia.
This US commercial rocket, built and launched by Orbital Sciences Corp, blasted off from the Wallops Flight Facility at 2222 GMT on Tuesday but burst into flames moments later and plunged back to the ground in a massive ball of fire and smoke.
No one was hurt in the crash, authorities said. The craft was carrying a Cygnus cargo ship bound for the station, a $100 billion research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations that orbits about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth.
Another resupply vehicle, the unmanned Russian Progress spacecraft, successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan just hours later with nearly 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies. That craft was due to reach the station later on Wednesday.
The loss of the Cygnus supply vessel posed no immediate problem for the orbiting team of six crew members – two NASA astronauts, one from the European Space Agency and three Russian cosmonauts – officials said.
“There was no cargo that was absolutely critical to us that was lost on that flight. The crew is in no danger,” NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier said.
The cause of the mishap was under investigation, said Frank Culbertson, Orbital Sciences executive vice president.
Russia’s Roskomos space agency said it was ready to help ferry extra U.S. cargo to the International Space Station if NASA requested such assistance.
“If we get a request to urgently deliver some U.S. cargo to the ISS with the help of our freighter, we will satisfy it,” RIA news agency quoted a senior Roskosmos official, Alexei Krasnov, as saying. “But there has been no such request for now.”
NASA officials said damage on the ground appeared limited to the launch facility, but its full extent was not immediately known.
Culbertson told reporters on a conference call that the pad was the only one certified for launching the Antares rocket, so its repair was a top priority.
