On Tuesday, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket exploded a few seconds after launching from the launch site on Wallops Island in Virginia, destroying the Cygnus spaceship carrying 5,000 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station.
No injuries. Like the cause of the accident, information about the extent of damage at the starting seaside complex did not immediately become available, "We really have no idea about any signs of what exactly was the cause of the incident," said Frank Calbertson, executive vice president of Orbital Sciences after the crash.
“What we know is not too different from what everyone saw in the video: The ascent stopped, something happened at the first stage ... and then it fell to the Earth. We still do not have access to all the data”, said Calbertson.
The 139-meter rocket launched from a prepared pad at 6:22 pm. The launch was postponed the next day due to the appearance of the vessel in the forbidden security zone along the intended trajectory of the missile’s flight.
The launch on Tuesday occurred on time, but the flight ran into trouble after 10 seconds. The security officers of the area radioed the commands that the rocket would explode in about 20 seconds. Burning debris fell at the southern end of the Wallops Islands. “It’s too early to comment on the damage to the launch pad. We know there’s some damage. But we don’t know to what extent,” told Bill Vrubel, director of NASA’s Wallops cosmodrome.
Orbital Sciences and NASA immediately began investigating the accident, for the first time after the US space agency turned to commercial companies to replenish the station’s reserves after the shuttles were eliminated.
"We will understand what happened, and we hope that in the near future we will return everything to the right direction," said the Calbertson launch team.
"We have all seen such a case in our business before that, and we all saw how the teams recovered from this. In this case, we will do the same," he said.
Orbital Sciences had previously launched the Antares rocket four times, and all launches were successful. The company is one of two companies hired by NASA to deliver cargo to the space station. The second, a private company, Space Exploration Technologies, will complete its fourth cargo delivery to the station in December.
The launch of the rocket on Tuesday included an increase in the amplifier of the upper stage and was the third of the company's eight contracts with NASA in the amount of $ 1.9 billion. "We are very disappointed with the events of this evening," said Mike Saffredini, program manager at NASA space station. "Cygnus spacecraft is a significant part of the logistics capabilities that supports the ISS."
"But we have complete faith in the orbital team and their ability to get to the root cause of the accident, its solution and return to flight," he added.
Cygnus did not carry on board any critical components for the station, and the station’s crew had food supplies and basic necessities for four to six months, Saffredini added.
Russian cargo ship was supposed to start to the station on Wednesday. Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which also carries cargo to the station for NASA, is preparing to launch its next Dragon cargo ship on 9 December.
