Private Orbital Sciences Rocket Explodes During Launch, NASA Cargo Lost

fireblade

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[video]http://www.space.com/27575-explosion-cygnus-cargo-spacecraft-destroyed-in-critical-launch-mishap-video.html[/video]

A private Orbital Sciences-built cargo launch to the International Space Station ended in a fiery explosion just seconds after liftoff Tuesday night (Oct. 28).


Orbital's unmanned Antares rocket exploded in a brilliant fireball shortly after launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 6:22 p.m. EDT (2222 GMT), crashing back down to the launch pad in a flaming heap. The Antares was carrying Orbital's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, which was toting 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of food, scientific experiments and other supplies on this flight — the third cargo mission to the space station under a $1.9 billion contract the company holds with NASA. You can see photos of the Antares rocket explosion here.


A NASA spokesman described the explosion as a "catastrophic anomaly" during a NASA TV webcast. While the assessment and investigation of the accident have just begun, NASA emergency operations officials report no injuries, Orbital Sciences representatives said. Property damage is limited to the south end of Wallops Island, they added. [Listen to a first-hand account of the rocket explosion]

cygnus-launch-antares-explosion.jpg






"It is far too early to know the details of what happened," Orbital executive vice president Frank Culbertson, a former NASA astronaut, said in a statement. "We will conduct a thorough investigation immediately to determine the cause of this failure and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of this incident. As soon as we understand the cause we will begin the necessary work to return to flight to support our customers and the nation’s space program."


Orbital Sciences representatives were tracking no problems in the leadup to the launch. But upon ignition it soon became clear that something was wrong, said Robert Pearlman, editor of the space history news website collectSPACE.com (a Space.com partner). Pearlman watched the launch failure from just a few miles away at NASA's press site observation area.


"As the vehicle was climbing off the pad, there was something trailing — a smoke and fire plume from the rocket itself — trailing from the rocket all the way up," Pearlman told Space.com. "As it cleared the top of the water tower, there was a clear break-apart, and the booster's integrity failed. There was then a tremendous fireball, trailed by a very loud explosion. Parts were sent flying everywhere, and then the vehicle fell back to the pad, exploding in an even larger fireball, setting the entire area on fire."


Tuesday night's launch try was Orbital's second attempt to launch the Antares rocket in two days. A launch attempt on Monday night was scrubbed when a boat wandered into the launch range safety area offshore.


NASA has tapped​
Orbital Sciences
to provide eight cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station using the company's Antares rockets and unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. The Virginia-based company launched its first official cargo mission to the space station earlier this year in January, with a second mission following in July. Both missions, as well as two test flights in 2013, were a success.​


California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion NASA resupply deal to make 12 robotic flights to the orbiting lab using its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. To date, SpaceX has flown three of these missions without incident.

NASA is looking to the private sector to fly both supplies and astronauts to and from the space station. Last month, the space agency awarded multibillion-dollar deals to SpaceX and Boeing to develop their astronaut taxis, with the hope that one or both private spaceships will be up and running by 2017. (NASA has been reliant on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly its astronauts to and from orbit since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011.)


A Russian robotic cargo craft known as Progress, incidentally, is scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station Wednesday (Oct. 29) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.


Orbital Sciences' two-stage Antares rocket stands 133 feet (40 meters) tall. Today's attempted launch was the first to use an upgraded, more powerful version of Antares' Castor 30XL second-stage motor, company representatives have said, but it is unknown at the moment if this motor was involved in the launch anomaly in a
ny wat


http://www.space.com/27576-private-orbital-sciences-rocket-explosion.html

EDIT: i will post updates on what caused it when they are available

 
Last edited by a moderator:
i really cant belive that this did happen, i just clicked on to the NASA website started watching the video and it just blew up, amazing. but its is very lucky that there was no one on board only cargo aye?

fireblade.
 
[video]http://www.space.com/27575-explosion-cygnus-cargo-spacecraft-destroyed-in-critical-launch-mishap-video.html[/video]

A private Orbital Sciences-built cargo launch to the International Space Station ended in a fiery explosion just seconds after liftoff Tuesday night (Oct. 28).


Orbital's unmanned Antares rocket exploded in a brilliant fireball shortly after launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 6:22 p.m. EDT (2222 GMT), crashing back down to the launch pad in a flaming heap. The Antares was carrying Orbital's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, which was toting 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) of food, scientific experiments and other supplies on this flight — the third cargo mission to the space station under a $1.9 billion contract the company holds with NASA. You can see photos of the Antares rocket explosion here.


A NASA spokesman described the explosion as a "catastrophic anomaly" during a NASA TV webcast. While the assessment and investigation of the accident have just begun, NASA emergency operations officials report no injuries, Orbital Sciences representatives said. Property damage is limited to the south end of Wallops Island, they added. [Listen to a first-hand account of the rocket explosion]

cygnus-launch-antares-explosion.jpg






"It is far too early to know the details of what happened," Orbital executive vice president Frank Culbertson, a former NASA astronaut, said in a statement. "We will conduct a thorough investigation immediately to determine the cause of this failure and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of this incident. As soon as we understand the cause we will begin the necessary work to return to flight to support our customers and the nation’s space program."


Orbital Sciences representatives were tracking no problems in the leadup to the launch. But upon ignition it soon became clear that something was wrong, said Robert Pearlman, editor of the space history news website collectSPACE.com (a Space.com partner). Pearlman watched the launch failure from just a few miles away at NASA's press site observation area.


"As the vehicle was climbing off the pad, there was something trailing — a smoke and fire plume from the rocket itself — trailing from the rocket all the way up," Pearlman told Space.com. "As it cleared the top of the water tower, there was a clear break-apart, and the booster's integrity failed. There was then a tremendous fireball, trailed by a very loud explosion. Parts were sent flying everywhere, and then the vehicle fell back to the pad, exploding in an even larger fireball, setting the entire area on fire."


Tuesday night's launch try was Orbital's second attempt to launch the Antares rocket in two days. A launch attempt on Monday night was scrubbed when a boat wandered into the launch range safety area offshore.


NASA has tapped​
Orbital Sciences
to provide eight cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station using the company's Antares rockets and unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. The Virginia-based company launched its first official cargo mission to the space station earlier this year in January, with a second mission following in July. Both missions, as well as two test flights in 2013, were a success.​


California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion NASA resupply deal to make 12 robotic flights to the orbiting lab using its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. To date, SpaceX has flown three of these missions without incident.

NASA is looking to the private sector to fly both supplies and astronauts to and from the space station. Last month, the space agency awarded multibillion-dollar deals to SpaceX and Boeing to develop their astronaut taxis, with the hope that one or both private spaceships will be up and running by 2017. (NASA has been reliant on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly its astronauts to and from orbit since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011.)


A Russian robotic cargo craft known as Progress, incidentally, is scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station Wednesday (Oct. 29) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.


Orbital Sciences' two-stage Antares rocket stands 133 feet (40 meters) tall. Today's attempted launch was the first to use an upgraded, more powerful version of Antares' Castor 30XL second-stage motor, company representatives have said, but it is unknown at the moment if this motor was involved in the launch anomaly in a
ny wat


http://www.space.com/27576-private-orbital-sciences-rocket-explosion.html

EDIT: i will post updates on what caused it when they are available


Lets hope they can try and identify what the exact cause was to prevent any further problems happening again in the future. Good post fireblade. :goodpost:
 
Lets hope they can try and identify what the exact cause was to prevent any further problems happening again in the future. Good post fireblade. :goodpost:

ahh i ma sure that they will find out what happend, it was so fast though as soon that it took off 5 to 6 seconds later it just blew up?

firebade.
 
ahh i ma sure that they will find out what happend, it was so fast though as soon that it took off 5 to 6 seconds later it just blew up?

firebade.
It's not good really though is it? final checks need to be a priority to prevent this happening if possible.
 
That's an expensive "oops"!! Luckily as you say there were no human casualties. I guess the Americans didn't want to be out-done by the recent dramas at Baikonur. Apparently there was yet another mishap there just the other day when the plane carrying Astra 2G to the launch facility crash-landed, but seemingly no damage to the cargo.
 
They may find out what the issue was, but I suspect they will not be able to do a launch for a while as all the ground structures will be severely damaged.
 
Interesting situation. Development was partially funded by NASA, similar to space-x. Engines are of Russian origin and has had one failure on a ground based test though the rocket itself has had 4 successful launches. As mentioned, there was severe damage to ground facilities and OS don't have a contract with any other facilities for launches so its going to be a while before they can try again.
 
It's not good really though is it? final checks need to be a priority to prevent this happening if possible.

no not good atall pal, and yes i do agree with you 100% aye but even if all check are done then check again befor they go for it, even if there is no fault found some parts compounts and other things on the rocked could just fail then and then or even fail when its 10 minuets in to the mission or even further aye?
but by looking at the footage its as if some thing to do with the thrusters that failed, but lets wait and see what they aye

fireblade.
 
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