Antares rocket failure

[skyblue1]

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — NASA said an unmanned Antares rocket exploded 6 seconds after liftoff Tuesday night.

The rocket was carrying the Cygnus spacecraft with supplies that were going to the International Space Station. It was carrying 5,000 pounds of cargo.

NASA said shortly after the accident there did not appear to be any injuries.

An official did say there was significant damage to the vehicle and property at the launch site.

The Antares rocket is built by private commercial space flight company Orbital Sciences.

The launch was originally scheduled for Monday night, but a boat floated into the restricted zone forcing officials to scrub the launch







http://kdvr.com/2014/10/28/nasa-rocket-blows-up-on-lift-off-in-virginia/

[skyblue1]

Antares, known during early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Able to launch payloads heavier than 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, it made its inaugural flight on April 21, 2013.[4] Designed to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's COTS and CRS programs, Antares is the largest rocket operated by Orbital Sciences.

NASA awarded to Orbital a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Space Act Agreement (SAA) in 2008 to demonstrate delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. For these COTS missions Orbital intends to use Antares to launch its Cygnus spacecraft. In addition, Antares will compete for small-to-medium missions.[8] On December 12, 2011, Orbital Sciences renamed the launch vehicle "Antares" from the previous designation of Taurus II, after the star of the same name.[9]

Antares made four successful launches to orbit in its first five attempts. On October 28, 2014, an Antares rocket exploded just after liftoff, completely destroying the vehicle and badly damaging launch pad 0 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antares_(rocket)

[odeon]

Oops. Maybe NASA should reconsider the external contractor strategy.

[Parts]

NASA has blown up it's own fair share of rockets so it's a bit early to worry about using subcontractors give them some time and we shall see.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

NASA has blown up it's own fair share of rockets ...

 

I've watched several of those rockets explode.

[odeon]

NASA has blown up it's own fair share of rockets so it's a bit early to worry about using subcontractors give them some time and we shall see.

So true, but most of their bigger explosions were a long time ago.

[skyblue1]

These are refurbished Russian rockets that they use.

[odeon]

No wonder they explode, then.

[Yuri Bezmenov]

They would explode even more often, if the British made them...













































... and they would leak oil everywhere too!!         

[odeon]

But they'd be gorgeous to look at.