Photo Gallery/Video attached — Newly released images show last year’s explosion of a private cargo-carrying rocket in stunning detail.
The first four Antares launch attempts were successful. During the fifth launch on October 28, 2014, the rocket failed catastrophically, and the vehicle and payload were destroyed.
NASA posted the photos on its Flickr page.
he first stage of an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on the Orb-3 resupply mission failed catastrophically six seconds after liftoff from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
The flight termination system was activated before the rocket hit the ground, and an explosion and fire destroyed the vehicle and cargo.
There were no injuries. Orbital Sciences reported that Launch Pad 0A “escaped significant damage,” though initial estimates for repairs were in the $20 million range.
Orbital Sciences formed an anomaly investigation board shortly after the launch failure to investigate the cause of the incident.
Following the failure, Orbital sought to purchase launch services for its Cygnus spacecraft in order to satisfy its cargo contract with NASA, and on December 9, 2014, Orbital announced that at least one, and possibly two, Cygnus flights would be launched on Atlas V rockets from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
