NASA's Antares rocket explodes shortly after launch

[LazyLion]

 

[The_Assimilator]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/05/us/antares-rocket-explosion/index.html

Decades-old Russian engines are believed to have caused the Antares rocket's failure to launch properly, Orbital Sciences Corp.'s CEO David Thompson said Wednesday.

"Current evidence strongly suggest that one of the two AJ26 main engines that powered Antares' first stage failed about 15 seconds after ignition," Thompson said in a conference call with investors.

Last week, a company spokesman said the unmanned rocket, which exploded in a fireball at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, was deliberately destroyed after it became apparent there was a problem.

The turbo pump in one of the engines likely failed, Thompson said Wednesday. Orbital will likely stop using these engines, he said, since they have proven to be unreliable.

The Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft had been set to carry roughly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

Despite what Thompson described as a "setback," the company plans to stay on track with its $1.9 billion NASA contract delivering cargo to the space station, he said.

Pity a few million dollars worth of important cargo had to be lost before they decided to not cheap out on the engines.