An unmanned rocket from privatized space travel company Orbital Sciences today exploded upon liftoff, thus failing its mission to reach the International Space Station.
Orbital Sciences rocket, named Antares, was six seconds into its mission when it exploded, which the company confirmed via a tweet earlier today. NASA reports that the company is still trying to determine what went wrong.
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NASA & @OrbitalSciences are gathering data on the failure of the CRS-3 mission 6 seconds after launch.
Updates: http://t.co/6Bo6KBRWnG
— NASA (@NASA) October 28, 2014
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“A mishap occurred shortly after liftoff. Orbital has declared a contingency. NASA and Orbital are still determining when a press conference will be held,” NASA said in a statement about the rocket explosion.
This isn’t the first launch for Orbital Sciences, which previously made two other successful missions to the ISS. The cargo for this particular mission contained about 5,000 pounds of supplies for the ISS crew as well as materials for other experiments. Neither NASA nor Orbital Sciences have yet disclosed what contingency plan is in place, but I’m assuming either Orbital or fellow private space company SpaceX will eventually deliver those crucial supplies in a following mission.
For those who weren’t watching the launch earlier, we’ve pasted a video clip of the rocket exploding below.
via Engadget
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