Orbital rocket explodes after launch. china power lah.

[h=2]The Orbital Science unmanned rocket exploded seconds after launch on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.[/h]

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This image taken from video provided by NASA TV shows Orbital Sciences Corp.'s unmanned rocket blowing up over the launch complex at Wallops Island, Virginia, just six seconds after liftoff. (AP/NASA TV)

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WASHINGTON: An unmanned rocket owned by Orbital Sciences Corporation exploded Tuesday (Oct 28) in a giant fireball and plummeted back to Earth just seconds after launch on what was to be a resupply mission to the International Space Station.


"The Antares rocket suffered an accident shortly after lift-off," NASA mission control in Houston said, describing the blast at Wallops Island, Virginia, as a "catastrophic anomaly." Orbital's unmanned Cygnus cargo ship was carrying 2,200kg of supplies for the six astronauts living at the research outpost.


After the countdown, the base of the tall, white rocket ignited on cue, then rose a short distance into the air before it suddenly exploded in a fiery blast six seconds later. Enveloped in flames, the rocket collapsed to the ground, as a cloud of dark gray smoke rose from the wreckage.



Officials said the cost of the rocket and supplies was over US$200 million, not including the damage caused on the ground. Investigators swiftly secured the perimeter of the area and forbade any outside interviews of witnesses or staff, citing classified equipment that had been aboard the spacecraft.


As night fell, fires were seen burning at the coastal launch pad, where waves lapped at the shore. It was unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred at 6.22 pm (6.22am Singapore time Wednesday)..


"Something went wrong, and we will find out what that is," said Frank Culbertson, executive vice president at Orbital Sciences. He said investigators would evaluate the debris and analyse the rocket's telemetry to uncover the exact sequence of events.


All personnel in the area were accounted for, and there were no injuries, officials said. There was, however significant property damage at the launchpad. It was the first nighttime launch of an Antares rocket, according to Orbital's pre-launch blog.

Engineers said the countdown had gone smoothly, and there were no issues apparent with the machinery before the launch. "We don't really have any early indication of what might have failed," Culbertson said.


SPACE STATION WELL STOCKED

The mission, known as CRS-3, was to be Orbital's fourth trip to the ISS, including an initial demonstration flight. Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said the space station was well-stocked and that no "absolutely critical" cargo was lost in the blast.


Orbital has a US$1.9 billion contract with NASA for a total of eight supply missions. After the US space shuttle program ended in 2011, leaving no government program to send humans to the space station, private companies raced to restore US access.


SpaceX's Dragon was the first commercial spacecraft to make a supply journey there in 2010. Its next trip is scheduled for early December. The Cygnus craft, which is shaped like a massive beer keg, made its first journey to the ISS in 2013.


Unlike the Dragon, which returns to Earth intact, the Cygnus burns up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. President Barack Obama was briefed on the launch failure and would continue to receive updates on the probe, the White House said.




- AFP/de/by

Made in USA sucks!!!

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was this rocket designed by north korea?

frenchbriefs said:

was this rocket designed by north korea?

Click to expand...

dude


sounds more like it was designed by those fucking all talk and no action bastard ah nehs ......

[h=1]Virgin spaceship crashes in US desert, pilot dead[/h]
[h=2]Virgin Galactic's pioneering spacecraft designed to take tourists into space crashed in California, killing one of the two pilots and scattering debris across the desert.[/h]

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Image taken from a video from KABC News in Los Angeles shows the wreckage of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, October 31, 2014. (AFP/KABC News)

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LOS ANGELES: Virgin's pioneering tourist-carrying spacecraft crashed on a test flight in California on Friday (Oct 31), killing a pilot and scattering debris across the desert - and raising questions about the program's future.


But Virgin chief Richard Branson, while voicing shock at the accident involving Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, vowed to push forward towards the dream of space flight for the paying public.


"We've always known that the road to space is extremely difficult - and that every new transportation system has to deal with bad days early in their history," he said. "Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together," he added in a statement issued as he refueled en route for Mojave.


Television images showed the wreckage of SpaceShipTwo, a test vehicle that flies to the edge of space, amid brush east of Mojave, a few hours' drive northeast of Los Angeles. The incident is the second disaster involving a US spacecraft this week, after an unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded after launch on Tuesday.


It is also a huge blow to British tycoon Branson's long-held dream of offering the first passenger space flights, which have been snapped up by Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities. The Virgin chief is due Saturday in Mojave, where the California Highway Patrol confirmed that one pilot had died and another was seriously injured and taken to hospital.


RESERVED SEATS


The spaceship had been carried aloft on a bigger aircraft known as WhiteKnightTwo and then released for a test of its rocket engine above the Mojave desert, the latest in a series of tests. Stuart Witt, head of the Mojave Air and Space Port, said WhiteKnightTwo took off at 9.20 am, and released SpaceShipTwo at an altitude of 13,700m at 10.10 am, after 50 minutes of flight.


Two minutes later, Witt said it became clear as he watched from the space port that something had gone wrong, even though there was nothing obvious visually from the ground. "If there was a huge explosion, I didn't see it," he said. "From my eyes and my ears, I detected nothing that appeared abnormal."


The National Transportation Safety Board air safety agency said it was sending a team to the site of the crash. The flight - the 35th by SpaceShipTwo, according to Virgin Galactic's Twitter feed - involved the same configuration as previously, although the type of fuel was new, officials said.


More than 500 people have already reserved seats - and paid a deposit on the US$250,000 ticket price - for a minutes-long suborbital flight on SpaceShipTwo, which can carry six passengers. The SpaceShipTwo's first commercial flight - in which Branson and his family have vowed to travel - has been repeatedly delayed, but was tentatively forecast for the first half of 2015, before Friday's crash.


DiCaprio and fellow actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are among those already reported to have booked their place. In May, DiCaprio auctioned off an invitation to join him on a trip into space, raising €700,000 (US$876,000). Private companies are rushing to fill the gap left by NASA, which ended its 30-year shuttle program in July 2011 with the completion of the final Atlantis mission to the International Space Station (ISS).


Analysts said the accident is a huge blow to the nascent industry. "It's a setback for the tourism industry," said Marco Caceres, an analyst and director of space studies for the Teal Group, a defense and aerospace consultancy just outside of Washington, DC. "You are not going to see any commercial space tourism flight next year or probably several years after that," he told AFP.


But Witt said the commercial space industry and all the young entrepreneurs working in it must move beyond the tragedy. "My message to them is stay the course," he said. Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides echoed the sentiment, saying: "We're going to get through it. The future rests in many ways on hard days like these."


REALITY TV
NASA voiced shock at the crash. "While not a NASA mission, the pain of this tragedy will be felt by all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Space flight is incredibly difficult, and we commend the passion of all in the space community who take on risk to push the boundaries of human achievement."


The Virgin crash also raised questions over a reality TV show, "Space Race." The show, which was commissioned last year, pits contenders against each other to win a flight on the Virgin Galactic spacecraft, according to entertainment industry journal Variety.


Initial investigations into the earlier Orbital Science rocket explosion centered on the pair of rocket engines providing its thrust, which were made during the Soviet era and refurbished.




- AFP/fl

[h=1]Probe of Virgin spaceship crash may take a year[/h]
[h=2]Investigators said the Virgin Galactic passenger spaceship that crashed during a test flight, killing one pilot and injuring the other, most likely broke up in mid-flight.[/h]

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A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team survey a tail section from the crashed Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo near Cantil, California on Nov 1, 2014. (Photo: AFP/Josh Edelson)

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MOJAVE (United States): Authorities who carried out their first full day of investigation into a Virgin spacecraft crash that killed one pilot and seriously injured another said probing the incident could take a year.


At a news conference late Saturday (Nov 1), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) acting chairman Christopher Hart said debris from the SpaceShipTwo rocket crash was strewn over an area eight kilometres long, indicating a likely in-flight breakup, and would be part of an investigation lasting up to 12 months.


British tycoon and Virgin chief Richard Branson meanwhile insisted earlier in the day that he was undeterred and that his dream of commercial space travel was still alive.


The doomed Virgin flight - the 35th by SpaceShipTwo, which is meant to carry tourists on short but expensive trips to space - marked the first time the spaceship had flown on a new kind of plastic-based rocket fuel mixture. A team of federal investigators launched a probe of the causes of Friday's accident, which dealt a devastating setback to commercial space tourism.


Although piecing together the facts and analysis surrounding the accident would be lengthy, Hart said the on-site investigation would last four to seven days. Hart earlier told reporters that investigators were entering unknown territory since it was "the first time we have been in the lead of a space launch that involved persons on board."


However, he sounded a positive note late Saturday adding that as a test flight, the spaceship "was heavily documented in ways we don't usually see with normal accidents." That included six cameras on the vehicle and three on WhiteKnightTwo - the bigger aircraft that had carried the spaceship.

There was also extensive telemetry data and a long-range camera at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, among other sources of input, he said.

The crash was the second disaster to rock the private space industry in the space of a few days, after an Antares rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded after take-off in Virginia on Tuesday.


Early theories about the causes of the latest crash have focused on the fuel, amid reports the company was repeatedly warned of concerns about its safety. A rubber-based fuel was previously used.


SAFETY OUR 'NUMBER ONE PRIORITY'

Speaking to reporters after arriving in the California facility that had served as the hub of Virgin Galactic's space programme, Branson said safety remained his paramount concern. "We owe it to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong, and once we've found out what went wrong, if we can overcome it, we'll make absolutely certain that the dream lives on," a grim-faced Branson told reporters.


"We do understand the risks involved, and we're not going to push on blindly. Safety has always been our number one priority," he added before heading off to rally grieving Virgin Galactic staff at the Mojave Air and Space Port.


The surviving pilot, Peter Siebold, is now "alert and talking with his family and doctors," plane designer and builder Scaled Composites said in a statement. It named the dead pilot as 39-year-old Michael Alsbury, a father of two.


SpaceShipTwo crashed and hurtled to the ground shortly after it had detached from a mothership at an altitude of around 13,700 metres during a test flight.


SPACE TOURISM GROUNDED

Experts say the accident will delay the advent of commercial space tourism by several years. Virgin Galactic had hoped to start ferrying wealthy customers to the edge of space in 2015, charging US$250,000 per person for a ticket on the company's six-seater vehicle.


Around 500 people, including a slew of celebrities such as Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, have already reserved tickets on the first wave of Virgin Galactic flights, according to reports.


Branson said anyone who wanted to cancel their reservation would get their money back. "Of course, anybody who ever wants a refund would be able to get a refund," he said.


Branson hit back at early theories surrounding what may have caused the accident. "To be honest, I find it slightly irresponsible that people who know nothing about what they're saying can be saying things before the NTSB makes their comments," he said.


The accident was not the first tragedy to strike the Virgin Galactic programme. In 2007, three people were killed after a rocket designed for use in SpaceShipTwo exploded during testing.


Private companies are rushing to fill the gap left by NASA, which ended its 30-year shuttle programme in July 2011 with a final Atlantis mission to the International Space Station.


Analysts said the latest accident is a huge blow to the nascent industry. "You are not going to see any commercial space tourism flight next year or probably several years after that," said Marco Caceres, an analyst and director of space studies for the Teal Group consultancy.


- AFP/ir

But but but but.......................... i thought US is the best technological country in the world? Why did their rocket crash?

they crash many time liao, that is why usa are NO: 1 LOL.