Q-news
Rocket explodes just after launch
A rocket, launched on an unmanned mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), exploded shortly after lift-off. The incident took place at a NASA launch site in Virginia, USA, on 28th October 2014 at 6.22 p.m. A self-destruct mechanism was activated by technicians because of what they called a "catastrophic" equipment failure. The exact cause of the failure is, as yet, unknown. NASA said the explosion may have caused severe damage to the launchpad and facility. There have been no reported injuries from the accident.
NASA hired a company called Orbital Sciences on a $1.9 billion contract to fly supplies to the ISS. The 28th October mission was scheduled to be the third of eight flights to the ISS. The Russian-built Antares rocket was propelling a Cygnus unmanned spacecraft containing 2200 kilos (5000 lbs) of supplies worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The cargo included food, tools and equipment (including school science experiments) for the six astronauts who are currently based on the ISS. Replacement supplies will sent be on a mission planned for next month, to arrive before current supplies run out in March 2015.
Had the mission been successful, Cygnus would have remained in Earth orbit until making a rendezvous with the ISS on 2nd November. The ISS's robotic crane would have been used to retrieve the capsule of supplies from the spacecraft, while loading waste from the station on to it in return. Both the waste and Cygnus would then have been disposed of when the spacecraft burned up on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Virginia 28.10.14