Orbital’s Antares rocket explodes on launch to ISS

The Orbital Sciences-built Antares has exploded during its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) due to a ‘catastrophic’ failure in the vehicle.

It was launched from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Nasa’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, US, on 28 October.

The rocket was originally scheduled for launch on 27 October. However, it was delayed because of a boat too close to the launch site, which could have been severely damaged had the rocket taken flight.

The unmanned cargo vehicle is designed to transport Orbital CRS-3 Cygnus cargo ship carrying 5,000lb of supplies, science experiments and equipment to the space station, as part of a $1.9bn commercial resupply services contract with Nasa.

Commenting on the failure, Nasa human exploration and operations directorate associate administrator William Gerstenmaier said: "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.

"The crew of the International Space Station is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies."

Orbital Sciences has formed an investigation board to identify the cause of the failure along with government agencies.

Orbital Advanced Programmes Group executive vice-president and general manager Frank Culbertson said: "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 programme."

The Guardian quoted Culbertson as saying that the problem might have caused due to failures of the first stage of the rocket.

Culbertson added: "The asset stopped, there was some, let’s say, disassembly of the first stage, after which it fell to earth."

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Image: Orbital Antares rocket at the launch pad. Photo: courtesy of Nasa / Joel Kowsky.