It was meant to be a routine rocket launch to resupply the International Space Station,
the fifth mission sent with that objective,
and all witnesses expected yet another successful take-off of the reliable Antares vehicle.
On October 28, 2014, the press and curious onlookers
gathered outside the NASA compound at the Wallops Island launch pad on the Virginia coast,
and several people recorded the moments before the launch with eagerness.
The unmanned Orbital Sciences Antares 130 rocket carried the Cygnus Orb-3
cargo craft holding vital supplies to the astronauts residing in the ISS,
and the launch was expected to be quite the spectacle.
As the countdown reached zero and the hype spread in the air,
the colossal spacecraft lifted towards the skies leaving behind a burst of flames.
But as the footage shows, things went horribly wrong within a few seconds as the rocket lost
momentum, fire erupted from parts of the hull, and a roaring sound pierced the air…
Private Space Launch
The Antares rocket launch scheduled for October 28, 2014, was orchestrated by the Orbital
Sciences Corporation, an American company specialized in the design and manufacture
of small- and medium-class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial,
military, and other government customers.
The company had a successful history of launching cargo and satellite equipment into orbit
for a wide array of government and private organizations, and was known for producing
reliable launch vehicles at lower costs by using older but trusty spacecraft technology.
Going back to the early 80s, the company had participated in the development and launch
of space vehicles by working hand in hand with NASA and other government space corporations.
By the 1990s, Orbital Sciences had its own launch vehicle named Pegasus,
which would prove highly successful in launching cargo into orbit at relatively lower costs.
The success story was followed by the Pegasus II program
and, finally, their most ambitious launch vehicle to date: the Antares.
Antares
Antares, also known as Taurus II, is an expendable launch vehicle created by Orbital Sciences and
the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station.
The vehicle can launch payloads exceeding 18,000 pounds into low Earth orbit
and has been doing this task since 2008 when NASA awarded Orbital Sciences
a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Space Act Agreement.
The Antares launch vehicle has successfully accomplished 15 missions until February of 2022,
but one major accident in 2014 would be enough to temporarily derail the project.
Several modifications have been made to the vehicle throughout its years
of service to adapt its hardware to the ever-evolving technology,
but some crucial components have remained the same, including the first stage engines
that became a significant source of controversy after the accident.
The Accident
The launch of the Antares rocket was scheduled at 22:22:38 hours;
despite being expected to be a routine launch like the other four Antares lift offs that came before,
a group of space and science news media crews and several civilians gathered outside the Nasa
complex at the Wallops Island launch pad in Virginia to watch the memorable spectacle.
The wait was long, but the crowd was excited.
Camera crews left their lenses pointing towards the rocket and waited for the big moment, while
the astronauts at the International Space Station were watching the launch via a direct NASA link.
Several pieces of footage have surfaced throughout the years showing different angles of the event.
At first, the images were confiscated as evidence for the subsequent investigation,
and it would take several months for the footage to become public.
In the official NASA feed, we see the rocket as it prepares for launch,
and the operator's voice can be heard checking all the systems before the countdown.
At the same time, footage captured by the media shows the excitement of the spectators
outside the base, including impressed children waiting for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Up in the Space Station, the perplexed crew watches as the operator starts the countdown.
As the numbers go down, the rocket expels a burst of fire and smoke. The operator then says:
(QUOTE) "We have lift off" just when the Antares starts to climb through the sky.
The footage then shows how the rocket starts to behave oddly merely 12 seconds after launching;
it seems to stall, losing some speed just before an explosion rips through the hull
at one of the rocket's flanks.
The spectators outside the base gasped as they realized what was happening,
with people screaming in terror.
The operator in the official NASA footage then falls silent, and the astronauts in
the Space Station look at the screen and then at each other in utter confusion.
The rocket then falls and is engulfed in a scorching blast of fire and destruction.
In the footage, someone can be heard saying: (QUOTE) "It's going to be
loud," just seconds before the thundering roar of the explosion reaches the camera.
No one could believe their eyes; one of the most spectacular rocket
explosions in recent history had just taken place before them.
40-year-old Engines
The ensuing investigations were extensive and methodical;
one was conducted by NASA and the other by Orbital Sciences. Both inquiries concluded
that a critical engine failure was the reason behind the unexpected accident.
Orbital's Chairman and CEO David Thompson explained the findings: (QUOTE)
"Current evidence strongly suggests that one of the two AJ26 main engines
that powered Antares' first stage failed about 15 seconds after ignition. At this time, we believe
the failure likely originated in, or directly affected, the turbopump machinery of this engine,
but I want to stress that more analysis will be required to confirm that this finding is correct."
Orbital Sciences and NASA would eventually disagree on the minor details of the exact
malfunction. Still, something was clear: the engines had failed.
The public soon learned that Antares's rocket engines were modified leftovers
from the NK-33 ones used in a 1960s Russian moon rocket.
When the Soviets spared no expense to build a giant rocket called the N-1
to rival the massive Saturn 5 that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon, Russian engineers
developed the gigantic engines that would one day power the first stage of the Centers.
The N-1 would never succeed as every test ended in spectacular explosions.
Then, when America reached the Moon first, the Soviet program was canceled,
leaving a warehouse full of enormous and powerful, unused rocket engines.
As the USSR collapsed, the engines were sold at a comparatively low cost, and the US jumped at
the opportunity to attain powerful, cheap, ready-made rocket engines for military use.
The engines were then heavily modified to work appropriately with the US space programs,
proving to be reliable and efficient with the passing years.
Still, the Russian engineers claim that their engines are not to be
blamed for the Antares disaster, even though recent tensions between Russia
and the US have fueled suspicions of foul play and Russian tampering. What’s more,
there’s been massive criticism of US space organizations using Soviet-era rocket engines.
Ultimately, the Antares 100 series was halted after the incident, and Orbital Sciences committed
to take all the NK-33 engines off their launch vehicles and replace them with newer
Russian rocket engines, paving the way for the new Antares 200 series that continued two years later.
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