A NASA rocket filled with supplies for the International Space Station exploded at launch Tuesday evening. The rocket was unmanned.
NASA said there were no injuries caused by the Antares rocket's accident but cited 'significant' damage to launch facilities.
Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft was carrying 5,000 pounds of NASA cargo and launching in Virginia. Orbital Sciences' shares fell 11 percent in after-hours trading, on thin trading.
This was to be Orbital Sciences' third resupply mission to the ISS, as part of a $2 billion contract the company has with NASA.
The second U.S. 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.
Read More Tesla's Elon Musk shoots down sales report
'NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. are gathering data on the failure of the Orbital CRS-3 six seconds after launch,' according to a brief statement on NASA's website. The cause of the accident was not immediately available.
CNN first reported the news.
ISS tweet here
-Reuters contributed to this article.
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 7 1 Name: Orbital Sciences Count: 3 2 Name: ISS Count: 2 3 Name: Orbital Sciences Corp. Count: 1 4 Name: More Tesla 's Elon Musk Count: 1 5 Name: Cygnus Count: 1 6 Name: U.S. Count: 1 7 Name: Virginia Count: 1 8 Name: SpaceX Count: 1 9 Name: Reuters Count: 1 10 Name: Antares Count: 1 11 Name: CNN Count: 1 12 Name: Space Exploration Technologies Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/ZZEO0F Title: Unmanned NASA-contracted rocket explodes over eastern Virginia Description: (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.
Post a Comment for "NASA rocket explodes on launch - CNBC"