Last night, an Antares rocket — CRS Orb-3 — exploded 14 seconds after launch. The Antares, developed by US company Orbital Sciences, was meant to carry around 5,000 pounds (2,200 kilos) of supplies to the International Space Station. No one was harmed by the explosion, though the launch site will have sustained significant damage. We don’t yet know the cause of the explosion, but I’m sure that Orbital Sciences’ decision to use ancient (but refurbished) Russian NK-33 rocket engines will come under a lot of scrutiny.
The six astronauts currently aboard the ISS will be fine; NASA says they have months of supplies — and anyway, Russia successfully launched its own Progress resupply craft last night, just a couple of hours after the Antares went kaboom.
Source: http://www.extremetech.com
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