An unmanned US supply rocket exploded shortly after lifting off from a commercial launch pad in Virginia, the first disaster since Nasa turned to private operators to run cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
The 14-storey Antares rocket, built and launched by Orbital Sciences Corp, blasted off from the Wallops Flight Facility at 10:22pm 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 $100bn research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations that orbits about 418km above Earth.
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,” said Nasa Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier.
The cause of the mishap is under investigation, said Frank Culbertson, executive vice-president of Orbital Sciences Corp. Russia’s Roskomos space agency said it was ready to help ferry extra US cargo to the ISS if Nasa requested such assistance.
“If we get a request to urgently deliver some US 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.”
Cygnus had been due to loiter in orbit until November 2, then fly to the station so astronauts could use a robotic crane to snare the capsule and attach it to a berthing port.
