The Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket lifted off to start its third resupply mission to the International Space Station, but suffered a catastrophic anomaly shortly after liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT.
The Orbital Sciences team is executing its contingency procedures, securing the site and data, including all telemetry from the Antares launch vehicle and Cygnus spacecraft.
Before launch the Orbital team was not tracking any issues.
No injuries have been reported, and Orbital reports that all personnel around the Wallops Flight Facility launch site have been accounted for.
NASA will continue to provide additional updates as it becomes available, as well as the earliest expected time for a news conference.
When will the ISS get their next resupply?
Hi Jim — Russia just launched its Progress 57 resupply ship Oct. 29 which docked to the station six hours later. Also, SpaceX is on track for a December launch of its Dragon space freighter.