A tragic and sudden end to the Antares Rocket for NASA today as the launch went sideways, so to speak, and the rocket exploded shortly after launch.
This from the CBC… The 14-storey rocket, built and launched by Orbital Sciences Corp (@OrbitalSciences), bolted off its seaside launch pad at the Wallops Flight Facility at 6:22 p.m. ET carrying a Cygnus cargo ship for the International Space Station. It exploded seconds later. It “suffered a catastrophic anomaly” shortly after lift off, according to a NASA statement.
Tuesday’s planned flight was to be the third of eight under the company’s $1.9 billion US contract with NASA. Outfitted with a new, more powerful upper-stage engine, the Antares rocket launched on Tuesday carried a Cygnus spacecraft packed with more than 2,200 kilograms of supplies, science experiments and equipment, a 15 per cent increase over previous missions.
