NASA rocket explodes 6 seconds after launch

[gold stinger]

News is still in development. Live camera feed of the aftermath is up on the main NASA website.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

The rocket in question that blew up was Cygnus CRS Orb-3. Info being collected & updated on wikipedia at an alarming rate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_CRS_Orb-3

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Cygnus CRS Orb-3, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 3 or Orbital 3 (Orb-3), was the fourth planned flight of the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft, would have been its fourth flight to the International Space Station and was the fifth launch of the company's Antares launch vehicle. However, the launch was unsuccessful, with the Antares rocket suffering a failure and crashing back to the launch pad.

The mission was scheduled to launch on October 27, 2014, at 22:45 UTC, with rendezvous and berthing with the ISS early in the morning on November 2. The launch was scrubbed due to safety concerns of a boat entering the zone too close to the launch. A 24 hour delay was put in place, with the next launch opportunity scheduled for 22:22:38 UTC on October 28, 2014. This was the first night-time launch for both the Antares launcher and Cygnus spacecraft.

The Antares rocket carrying the Orb-3 Cygnus launched as scheduled on October 28, 2014, but suffered a catastrophic failure seconds after launch, falling back onto Pad 0A and exploding.

Orb-3 carried a variety of NASA-manifested payloads, some determined fairly late in the days before the launch. In addition, the Arkyd-3 satellite would have been transported to the ISS on this flight.

edit: video of the explosion as it happened has been uploaded to youtube.

[Xiz]

Just leave the space stuff to Redbull, Nasa

(but really though... so sad...)

[ItsOnlyDanO]

I just saw the footage of this

It all looks fine then welp it explodes, don't know what the cause is yet

[Fission]

[Zageron]

bird nest in the intake

but really, that sucks. o_o

[gold stinger]

Originally Posted by Zageron

bird nest in the intake

sauce plese

[MinaciousGrace]

oh those poor souls

[justin_ator]

For anyone like me who wasn't able to watch the feed and wanted to see it

[choof]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

oh those poor souls

unmanned

[MinaciousGrace]

Originally Posted by choof

unmanned

would i make such a comment if i thought it was manned

[choof]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

would i make such a comment if i thought it was manned

Jurugar[x|c]: down is for something existential

[gold stinger]

mfw the director says not to speculate the issues & not to disclose info to media outlets.

the incident is already world news.

[gold stinger]

media outlets are now picking up the info online. TV News stations are already reporting on the issue.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...n_takeoff.html

time for speculation.

Originally Posted by slate.com

As launch expert Jonathan McDowell notes, the first stage is built by the Ukranian company Yuzhnoe and uses Aerojet AJ-26 engines which are Russian NK-33 engines. These are very old engines (built in the 1960s and 70s) that are refurbished. While it’s not known if these were the cause of the explosion, they’re an obvious bet and I’m sure will be the primary suspect in the investigation. A recent test of one engine ended in failure.

sticking around for a supposed News Conference to officially address the issue.

[dashoe93]

This blows.

[DossarLX ODI]

This reminds me of the Columbia Disaster. It better not have been another case of engineers being ignored by big cheeses.

[gold stinger]

There's been rumor spreading that parts of the engines were refurbished parts from the 1960's - 1970's, and could have played a vital role in the failure in one of the engines, causing the combustion chamber to explode.

There's also rumor that there was testing on the engines that were to be used for the launch today, and one of them failed, and the check was never looked in-depth.

[gold stinger]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

press conference is live and I didn't realize it

edit:

basically the press conference summed down for those who didn't watch it:

- NASA has absolutely no idea what went wrong other than what can be viewed on the cameras that we all saw at this time.

- NASA acknowledges the use of older modeled engines for the rocket, but they honestly had no other choice, because they are some of the only approved rocket thrusters in the world.

- The current situation is to assess the situation tonight, set up a perimeter, and start the investigation tomorrow morning.

- A self-destruct button was pressed & discharged before the rocket hit the ground, so there is minimal damage done, but there is damage done to the launch bay.

- Part of the launch bay for rockets has been damaged, and no rockets can be launched as of right now. Their highest priority is fixing the launch pad, as it is the only approved launch pad in America to launch Antares class Rockets (aka goods to the ISS aka the International Space Station.)

- NASA will be continuing to launch rockets made by Orbital in the future after damages have been repaired. They are not terminating contracts.

- NASA will be updating the results of their investigations tomorrow on their website at www.nasa.gov

[DotKritic]

The first thing my dad says since he's an ex-NASA engineer when I walk in the front door: The spaceship blew up.

[top]

lmao i love all the extensive worry about this incident.
unmanned.
shit happens.

get over it guys dont stress over something on such a trivial level
The spaceship blew up. - yeah this

[Fission]

ur face blew up