Orbital Sciences Antares/Credit: Orbital Sciences
An unmanned Orbital Science rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) exploded moments after lift-off on Tuesday evening, NASA said.
There was no loss of life, according to the U.S. space agency.
The private space firm's Antares rocket "suffered a catastrophic anomaly shortly after liftoff" at 6:22 p.m. Eastern from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia, NASA said.
Orbital's launch vehicle was carrying a Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft loaded with about 5,000 pounds of supplies to the ISS, including "science experiments to expand the research capability of the Expedition 41 crew members aboard the orbiting laboratory, along with crew provisions, spare parts, and experiment hardware," the company said prior to the launch.
The mission, Orb-3, was Orbital's fourth unmanned cargo mission to the ISS, including a demonstration mission in 2013 and two official missions for NASA under the company's $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with the space agency.
Orbital scrubbed its first scheduled launch attempt for the Orb-3 mission on Monday evening, due to the presence of a boat within the "mariner avoidance" hazard area where debris from launch stages can land, NASA said.
The space agency offered a brief update on activities in the aftermath of the failed launch attempt.
"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," NASA said.
"No injuries have been reported, and Orbital reports that all personnel around the Wallops Flight Facility launch site have been accounted for."
The Antares rocket used for the Orbital's third official ISS resupply mission was the first to include Orbital's upgraded Castor 30XL second stage motor, though there has been no indication that the upgrade had anything to do with the failed launch.
Orbital has a $1.9 billion CRS contract with NASA, under which it is contracted to conduct eight ISS resupply missions through 2016, delivering up to 44,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting space station.
In 2012, SpaceX became the first private space firm to complete a cargo run to the ISS. In its recent resupply missions, SpaceX has been testing its reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle with an eye towards eventually using a rocket which can be guided back to Earth intact and used again.