NASA Antares Rocket Explodes and Crashes

An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket exploded early Tuesday evening along the eastern Virginia coast, causing a huge fireball but no apparent deaths. According to NASA, the Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft were set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean. It was set to carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station. “There was failure on launch,” NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. “There was no indicated loss of life.” Bolden added, “There was significant property and vehicle damage. Mission control is trying to assess what went wrong.”