Post by Sailor on Oct 28, 2014 15:26:37 GMT -8
Unmanned NASA rocket explodes after liftoff
An unmanned commercial cargo rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded Tuesday over a launchpad in Virginia.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket blew up six seconds after liftoff from the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.. The company said no one was believed to be hurt and the damage appeared to be limited to the facilities.
Flames could be seen shooting into the sky as the sun set.
The Cygnus cargo ship was loaded with 5,000 pounds of gear for the six people living on the space station. It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago.
More here:
www.foxnews.com/science/2014/10/28/unmanned-nasa-rocket-explodes-after-liftoff/
This one is almost local to us here, Wallops Island is just up the coast about 50 miles from where my butt is planted. Apparently this was the first operational launch of an uprated Antares rocket with new engines and expanded fuel capacity.
Watching the video of the explosion my first impression is that one of the two engines suffered a combustion chamber rupture similar to what you often see in the old NASA rocket failure films, the engine exploded rather than just shutting down. The rocket remained more or less vertical from explosion all the way back down to the pad, it never made it out over the ocean only a few hundred yards away.
The good news is no one on the ground was injured though the launch facility immediately called in the local Fire Department to assist.
The bad news ... no one has been able to get close enough to inspect the launch pad facilities for the obvious reasons but likely it will need to be rebuilt from the foundation up.
An unmanned commercial cargo rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded Tuesday over a launchpad in Virginia.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket blew up six seconds after liftoff from the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.. The company said no one was believed to be hurt and the damage appeared to be limited to the facilities.
Flames could be seen shooting into the sky as the sun set.
The Cygnus cargo ship was loaded with 5,000 pounds of gear for the six people living on the space station. It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago.
More here:
www.foxnews.com/science/2014/10/28/unmanned-nasa-rocket-explodes-after-liftoff/
This one is almost local to us here, Wallops Island is just up the coast about 50 miles from where my butt is planted. Apparently this was the first operational launch of an uprated Antares rocket with new engines and expanded fuel capacity.
Watching the video of the explosion my first impression is that one of the two engines suffered a combustion chamber rupture similar to what you often see in the old NASA rocket failure films, the engine exploded rather than just shutting down. The rocket remained more or less vertical from explosion all the way back down to the pad, it never made it out over the ocean only a few hundred yards away.
The good news is no one on the ground was injured though the launch facility immediately called in the local Fire Department to assist.
The bad news ... no one has been able to get close enough to inspect the launch pad facilities for the obvious reasons but likely it will need to be rebuilt from the foundation up.
