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NASA: Investigation Into Orbital Sciences’ Rocket Explosion Begins

By Dawn Papple
Published on: 11:22 PST, Oct 29, 2014

The NASA-contracted Orbital Sciences’ rocket, Antares, which was carrying supplies to the International Space Station, exploded Tuesday night just after lift-off, prompting an investigation into the cause of the explosion. The Antares rocket was set to depart Monday, according to CNN, but the flight was postponed until Tuesday after a boat was spotted in the vicinity. A Coast Guard spokesperson said the boat was a good 40 miles offshore but according to NASA, the “boat down range in the trajectory would have flown had it lifted off.”

According to NASA and Orbital, Antares was suffering no technical concerns and the weather was perfect for the launch. In a press conference, a NASA representative said they will be analyzing the rocket’s telemetry, the debris, and video evidence.

The explosion of the rocket happened just seconds after lifting off from Virginia Tuesday night, as a previous Inquisitr report stated. The rocket exploded seconds after the planned launch which was set for 6:22 p.m. EDT at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, according to Fox News. The rocket was supposed to deliver Orbital’s unmanned Cygnus spacecraft which was carrying two and a half tons of supplies and other cargo to astronauts aboard the ISS.

The investigation is being led by Orbital Sciences and will be supported by the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.

“As far as the next steps for Antares, we will not fly until we understand the root cause and the corrective action necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Frank Culbertson, executive vice president of Orbital Sciences, said. “It’s way too early to tell how long that might take. We will go through the proper processes. We will do it professionally and thoroughly … But I can assure you that we will find out what went wrong. We will correct it, and we will fly again.”

Last May, an AJ26 rocket engine, which is the same type of rocket engine used in the first stage of the Antares’ launch, failed a ground test but the Orbital Sciences representative said that they do not know yet if that was the cause of the rocket’s explosion.

“What we know so far is pretty much what everybody saw on the video,” Culbertson said, according to CNN. “The ascent stopped, there was some, let’s say disassembly, of the first stage, and then it fell to Earth… We don’t really have any early indications of exactly what might have failed, and we need some time to look at that.”

The astronauts aboard the ISS are not in danger of having inadequate supplies. More cargo launches are planned. Russia was able to successfully send supplies up to the ISS early Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the NASA-contracted rocket was destroyed in the explosion.

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