NASA Rocket Explodes on Launch | The New York Times
An Antares rocket, carrying an unmanned spacecraft for NASA, exploded shortly after launch. Produced by: Associated Press Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/10xCTSt Subscribe on YouTube:...
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NASA rocket launched by Oribit explodes after 6 sec, falls back vertically to earth, nozzles down
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Orbital Sciences #39; unmanned rocket explodes on liftoff in Virginia: NASA
(Reuters) - An unmanned Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff from a commercial launch pad in Virginia on Tuesday, marking the first accident since NASA turned to private operators...
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Orbital Sciences' unmanned rocket explodes on liftoff in Virginia: NASA - Video
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket exploded in midair early Tuesday evening, producing huge flames and loud booms along the eastern Virginia coast but no injuries or deaths.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft had been set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean, carrying roughly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.
It exploded about six seconds after launch.
What was left of the spacecraft and rocket plummeted back to Earth, causing even more flames upon impact.
The rocket and spacecraft -- which together cost more than $200 million, according to Frank Culbertson, the general manager of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group -- are gone. And there's obvious damage beyond that, including to the launchpad, though the night skies made it hard to immediately gauge how much.
One thing officials do know is that rocket science is, in the words of NASA Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, "a really tough business."
"Tonight's events really show the difficulty that it takes for us to do this task of delivering cargo to the space station," he said.
Witnesses: From 'breathtaking' to horrific
The Orbital rocket had been set to go up Monday, only to be scrubbed "because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off," according to NASA. Coast Guard spokesman David Weydert said the boat that triggered the postponement was 40 miles offshore.
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Last Updated Oct 29, 2014 3:34 AM EDT
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- An Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket making only its fifth flight exploded seconds after launch from the Virginia coast Tuesday, erupting in a spectacular fireball and destroying an uncrewed Cygnus cargo ship in a disheartening failure for NASA's commercial space station resupply program.
The mishap occurred about 15 seconds after liftoff from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility as the 139-foot-tall two-stage rocket climbed away on the power of its two Russian-built first-stage engines.
"We have ignition... and we have liftoff of the Antares Orb 3 mission to bring Cygnus on its third (resupply) mission to the ISS," said NASA's launch commentator as the Antares lifted off. "Main engines at 108 percent, attitude nominal."
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CBS space consultant William Harwood reacts as he watches the explosion just after liftoff in Virginia of an unmanned cargo rocket carrying supp...
At roughly that moment, the exhaust plume suddenly intensified, followed an instant later by a detonation of some sort at the base of the rocket. The booster, engulfed in flames, then slowly fell back to Earth, exploding in a titanic conflagration as its remaining liquid oxygen and refined kerosene propellants ignited in a huge fireball.
At impact, flaming debris shot away into the night sky like a fireworks display, some of it presumably from solid propellant used in the rocket's second stage. Scattered fires erupted around the launch pad and a towering cloud of smoke climbed into the night sky.
While property damage appeared extensive, Orbital officials said there were no injuries.
It was not clear watching video replays of the launching what might have gone wrong, whether it involved one or both Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 first stage engines or some other system.
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NASA: No danger to space station after supply rocket blows up
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket exploded in midair early Tuesday evening, producing huge flames and loud booms along the eastern Virginia coast but no injuries or deaths.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft had been set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean, carrying roughly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.
It exploded about six seconds after launch.
What was left of the spacecraft and rocket plummeted back to Earth, causing even more flames upon impact.
The rocket and spacecraft -- which together cost more than $200 million, according to Frank Culbertson, the general manager of Orbital's Advanced Programs Group -- are gone. And there's obvious damage beyond that, including to the launchpad, though the night skies made it hard to immediately gauge how much.
One thing officials do know is that rocket science is, in the words of NASA Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, "a really tough business."
"Tonight's events really show the difficulty that it takes for us to do this task of delivering cargo to the space station," he said.
Witnesses: From 'breathtaking' to horrific
The Orbital rocket had been set to go up Monday, only to be scrubbed "because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off," according to NASA. Coast Guard spokesman David Weydert said the boat that triggered the postponement was 40 miles offshore.
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. NASA has pioneered new technologies on the International Space Station for years, but the space agency's latest technological twists are venturing into science-fiction territory.
For example, the next generation of camera-equipped, free-flying robots could usher in an age when remote-controlled gizmos check out the space station's far corners, unassisted by humans on board. But couldn't that open the way for a robot to go rogue, as HAL did in "2001: A Space Odyssey"?
"It's our job to make sure that doesn't happen," Jose Benavides, chief engineer for the SPHERES robotic flier program at NASA's Ames Research Center, told NBC News.
Benavides and other researchers provided an update on space station innovations on Monday during a televised forum at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. SPHERES which is short for "Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites" ranks as one of the station's longest-running tech experiments.
Astronauts have been testing the gas-propelled, beachball-sized satellites since 2006, but just recently the SPHERES devices have been rigged up with Android smartphones to enhance their vision and intelligence. The station's three spaceballs can now use a Kinect-style 3-D scanning system to map their environment.
Sometime next month, the flying robots are due to venture out of their home base in the Japanese Experiment Module for the first time, Benavides said. Eventually, they'll be given the run of the entire space station.
Suppose Mission Control wants to check out an anomalous reading on one of the space station's displays. "Without having to bother an astronaut, the ground operator can navigate the SPHERES over to take a look," Benavides said.
The robot can also be sent to look for, say, a missing wrench while the astronaut who lost it is otherwise engaged. "A lot of the astronauts' time has been spent looking for things," Benavides explained.
This SPHERES robot has been equipped with a smartphone to enhance its navigational capability. This free-flying robot is propelled in zero-G with compressed carbon dioxide gas, but future free-fliers are more likely to use ducted fans or compressed air.
Meanwhile, Benavides and his teammates spend a lot of their time working through even the most unlikely scenarios for example, a stray gamma-ray blast that somehow scrambles the SPHERES software to make sure a flying robot won't turn into a mini-HAL. "Even if all the wrong things happen, it can't hurt anybody or do any damage," he said.
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At a press conference arranged only a few hours after the event, NASA released details of the explosion of the Antares rocket carrying the unmanned Cygnus supply ship to the International Space Station (ISS). The space agency said that the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, where the 240,000-kg (530,000-lb) rocket went up in flames seconds after lift off has been cordoned off by firefighters until daylight because of the on-going hazards from fires, and scattered solid and hypergolic fuel from the Antares.
NASA says that Orbital Sciences Corporation (the builders and operators of the Cygnus and Antares), the US FAA, and NASA are investigating what happened to the Antares rocket when it was destroyed at 6:22 pm EDT. It suffered a catastrophic anomaly 10 to 12 seconds after launch, after which the range safety officer activated the rockets autodestruct. No injuries were reported and all personnel have been accounted for, with damage confined to the south end of Wallops Island, though there was some debris was scattered over the water.
At the press conference, NASA and Orbital Science representatives said that the explosion resulted in the loss of the US$200 million spacecraft, plus damage to the ground facilities. Pad damage was sustained, but instrument readings indicate that some systems are still holding pressure, so are not seriously damaged. However, the exact extent of the accident is still unknown. In addition, the spacecraft processing facilities seem undamaged.
The Cygnus freighter was lost in the explosion (Image" NASA)
The destruction of the Cygnus freighter means the loss of 5,000 lb (2,200 lb) of cargo originally destined for the ISS. Because of this, the manifest for later missions will have to be swapped around to make up for the destruction of the cargo ship. However, NASA says that the station is in no danger because there was no critical cargo aboard and that the ISS can remain functioning without resupply for four to six months. In addition, a Progress supply ship launches on Wednesday and a SpaceX Dragon is scheduled to launch on December 9.
The explosion also destroyed a piggyback cargo from the asteroid mining start up, Planetary Resources. The company was sending up its Arkyd 3 demonstrator, but in a statement Planetary Resources said that it had already met its objectives by delivering the miniature space telescope to the launch pad and that another launch of its Arkyd 6 is scheduled to launch next year.
According to NASA, the investigation into the accident will include moving into the area when its been deemed safe, during which debris will be tagged, collected, and sent off for analysis. In addition, the investigators are working on securing and reviewing telemetry and video from the launch vehicle and cargo craft. The investigation is expected to take weeks. In the meantime, the public are warned to remain away from the area and if they find any debris from the accident, they are not to touch it and to call 757-824-1295.
In a statement, William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, said:
"While NASA is disappointed that Orbital Sciences' third contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station was not successful today, we will continue to move forward toward the next attempt once we fully understand today's mishap. The crew of the International Space Station is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies.
"Orbital has demonstrated extraordinary capabilities in its first two missions to the station earlier this year, and we know they can replicate that success. Launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking, and we learn from each success and each setback. Today's launch attempt will not deter us from our work to expand our already successful capability to launch cargo from American shores to the International Space Station."
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"At this point it appears that the damage is limited to the facility," the Nasa commentator said.
Orbital Sciences' executive vice president Frank Culbertson advised people not to touch any potentially hazardous rocket or spacecraft debris that came down on their property or might wash ashore.
Immediately after the explosion, the launch team was ordered to maintain all computer data for the ensuing investigation. Culbertson advised his staff not to talk to news reporters and to refrain from speculating among themselves.
"Definitely do not talk outside of our family," said Culbertson, a former astronaut who once served on the space station.
Nasa mission control said the accident occurred just after Orbital's unmanned Cygnus cargo ship blasted off toward ISS carrying 5,000 pounds of supplies for the six astronauts living at the research outpost.
Virginia-based Orbital Sciences is one of two companies hired by Nasa to fly cargo to the station after the space shuttles were retired. Tuesday's planned flight was to be the third of eight under the company's $1.9 billion contract with Nasa.
The second US supply line to the station is run by privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which is preparing for its fourth flight under a separate, $1.6 billion Nasa contract.
Outfitted with a new, more powerful upper-stage engine, the Antares rocket launched on Tuesday carried a Cygnus spacecraft packed with 5,055 pounds of supplies, science experiments and equipment, a 15 percent increase over previous missions.
Cygnus was to loiter in orbit until Nov. 2, then fly itself to the station so astronauts can use a robotic crane to snare the capsule and attach it to a berthing port. The station, a $100 billion research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations, flies about 260 miles above Earth.
In addition to food, supplies and equipment, the Cygnus spacecraft was loaded with more than 1,600 pounds of science experiments, including an investigation to chemically analyse meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
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[Update: This article has been updated to include information from a NASA briefing Tuesday night.]
Orbital Science Corporation, supported by NASA, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, and the Federal Aviation Administration, has opened an investigation of the loss of the company's Antares rocket, which malfunctioned just seconds after lift-off Tuesday evening from its launch site on Virginia's Wallops Island.
The rocket's two first-stage motors had reached 108 percent of their typical thrust, as planned, when video showed additional flames erupted from the bottom of the first stage. The rocket slowed, then fell, exploding as it hit the ground.
The craft was carrying 5,000 pounds of science experiments, hardware, and crew supplies destined for the International Space Station. Had the launch gone as planned, the company's Cygnus cargo capsule would have docked with the station on Sunday.
No injuries or fatalities resulted from the explosion. Officials said the launch pad suffered damage, but at this point, it's unclear how extensive. A close inspection of the pad and of the debris field will begin at sun-up, according to Frank Culbertson, executive vice-president and general manager of the advanced projects group at Orbital Sciences.
Orbital Sciences is one of two companies NASA has hired to carry cargo to the space station. This was to have been the company's third cargo mission under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA. Its previous two cargo missions were successful.
The loss leaves Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), based in Hawthorne, Calif., as the only company capable of supplying the station from the United States. It has a $1.6-billion cargo contract with the space agency and is one of two companies NASA is supporting to develop the capability to carry US astronauts to and from the station. So far, the company has conducted four successful resupply missions, in addition to two prior demonstration missions.
The loss would appear to validate NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's argument for selecting two private companies rather than one or a single NASA-owned launch vehicle for space transportation to low-Earth orbit, as some in Congress had argued. He told lawmakers that he didn't want US crew transportation to come to a halt if an accident occurred an event that would ground flights using the same hardware during the inevitable accident investigation and the implementation of the investigation's recommendations.
But the loss of rocket and cargo after what officials described as a flawless countdown with no signs of problems with the rocket's systems also could rekindle smoldering debates over the use of commercial carriers for lofting astronauts, even though Orbital Sciences was not in the running for that business.
At the least, the incident highlights the oft-heard mantra that getting into space is anything but routine.
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Update: Rocket explosion destroys NASA cargo bound for space station
Dj Nasa "Greu de Ucis (Part One)" cu Nosfe, Mihnea, Ezekiel, Pazzo, Flobo i Hawk
Produs de Dj Nasa Text/ Voci : Nosfe, Mihnea, Ezekiel, Pazzo, Flobo i Hawk Cuts : Dj Nasa nregistrat la RecycledRecords i Level 3 Studio Mix/ Master : Gabi Pecheanu la Level 3 Studio...
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Dj Nasa "Greu de Ucis (Part One)" cu Nosfe, Mihnea, Ezekiel, Pazzo, Flobo i Hawk - Video
Orbital and NASA hold a status briefing about next mission to resupply International Space Station
Orbital Sciences Corp. and NASA held a pre launch status briefing to discuss the next mission to resupply the International Space Station on Monday, Oct. 27. Orbital #39;s Cygnus cargo spacecraft...
By: NASA
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Orbital and NASA hold science briefing update for next resupply mission to ISS
Orbital Sciences Corp. and NASA held a pre launch science update to discuss the mission #39;s science cargo aboard the SS Deke Slayton spacecraft soon to depart for the International Space Station...
By: NASA
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Orbital and NASA hold science briefing update for next resupply mission to ISS - Video
Antares ORB 3 Processing Highlights (NASA video)
Orbital #39;s Antares rocket will launch the company #39;s Cygnus cargo spacecraft loaded with supplies for the International Space Station for NASA. The launch will occur at the Mid-Atlantic Regional...
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UFOs Earth size orbiting sun NASA photos show
This year has been a banner year for finding and photographing UFOs. Here is a picture that will amaze you.
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Alien spaceship - UFOs in solar space on NASA satellite images in the review of the October 26, 2014
NASA practically stopped giving public information from satellites, watching over the sun, but some things NASA officials passed and we can see that the presence of UFOs in solar space continues!
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NASA Utah Round 7 MMP Outer Loop 10-18-14 HPDE 2 S#3
Driving Upgraded Red Nissan 350Z #17 Passed my own car (Blue 2012 Stock MB SLK 350) driven by my brother in HPDE1. Played chase with Wagner in the Orange Boss 302. NASA weekends are ...
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NASA Utah Round 7 MMP Outer Loop 10-18-14 HPDE 2 S#3 - Video
NASA EARTH WILL GO IN TO DARKNESS FOR 6 DAYS DECEMBER 16-22 2014 720p HD 10/27
nasa earth will go in to darkness for 6 days in solar sun flares december 16-22 2014 counting down breaking news real or hoax.
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NASA EARTH WILL GO IN TO DARKNESS FOR 6 DAYS DECEMBER 16-22 2014 720p HD 10/27 - Video
A new set of images taken on board NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) last week show an angular fin-shaped object, potentially the size of the Earth, in front of the sun.
The images, taken as NASA monitor's recent sunspot activity, have UFO enthusiasts talking about a technologically advanced race of beings siphoning energy from the sun, while those more down-to-earth say its just a camera glitch.
No matter what it turns out to be, this kind of science news is an inexhaustible source of parenting power when it comes to harnessing the energy of kids to research, imagine, and get creative with new and unusual scientific information.
One of the better, more scientific, data-based videos on the unidentified object I found with my 10-year-old son before he left for school this morning was posted by the website Suspicious Observers.
The video is part of The Mobile Observatory Project, started by Suspicious Observers, which was created by Ohio Lawyer and space enthusiast Ben Davidson.
However scientifically sound, kids may prefer the more colorful, sci-fi television show-inspired version of the news, complete with Star Trek style theme music posted to YouTube by HighTechAddict.
In the latter video, we see something resembling a Portugese Man-o-war jellyfish with tendrils that extend down to the sun as it allegedly siphons solar energy and then skedaddles back into space.
After watching both videos and examining photos from the NASA website, my son Quin said, It could just be a sun shark.
Rather than dismiss this pronouncement, I asked him what he based it on.
I was kidding mom. I was mocking the idea that aliens are sucking energy out of the sun, Quin said. But it would be really cool to imagine the surface of the sun is like the ocean and these sharks are born there, swimming around like leviathans.
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NASAs Glenn Research Center Aeronautics Director Therese M. Griebel will address the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Cleveland Section from 6 to 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Oct. 28. The IEEE is the worlds largest professional association for the advancement of technology. The event takes place at the Oak Barrel, located at 5975 Canal Road in Valley View.
Griebel will address the historical accomplishments of Glenn and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio; and the centers support of NASA and national priorities in aeronautics, space science, space technology development and human exploration. Appointed director of Aeronautics in 2014, Griebel is responsible for overseeing Glenns aeronautics program.
A native of Northeast Ohio, Griebel began her NASA career at Glenn in 1991. She managed the technology program for advanced radioisotope power conversion technologies in 2002 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the technology portfolio at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California for the Prometheus Project from 2003 to 2005.
Griebel also served as the deputy chief for Glenns Orion Project Office in 2006; a capture manager for defense satellite systems at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson Arizona in 2007; chief of Manufacturing Division at Glenn from 2007 to 2010 and chief of Avionics and Electrical Systems Division from 2010 to 2014.
Media interested in attending must RSVP tomaximilian.c.scardelletti@nasa.gov.
To learn more about NASA Glenn, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn
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NASA Glenn Director of Aeronautics to Speak at IEEE Cleveland Section