NASA, Accident Investigation Board to Review Orbital ISS Mission Launch Failure

An accident investigation board, NASA, National Transportation Safety Board and other entities will carry out a review of the failed unmanned rocket launch Tuesday that destroyed a Cygnus satellite. The satellite was launched on an Antares rocket by Orbital Sciences, which also makes communications satellites. The Cygnus satellite exploded about 15 seconds after take-off from Wallops Island, Virginia, said Orbital CEO David Thompson. The launch was part of an International Space Station (ISS) mission, and Orbital also launches commercial satellites from the island. It’s too soon to know how long the review process will take “or whether Antares and Cygnus missions scheduled for next year … will be affected,” he said Wednesday during a teleconference with analysts and investors. Orbital is “disappointed,” but not “discouraged or dissuaded from our objective to expand the Antares rocket well into the medium launch class,” he said. Orbital’s top priority will be to work to meet its commitments to NASA and “to keep open the cargo supply line to the space station of which Antares and Cygnus play an important part,” he said. Orbital’s view for 2014 remains unchanged, said Garrett Pierce, chief financial officer. The cost of facility repairs and other expenses is reimbursable by insurance, he said. It’s too soon to determine how the failure would affect plans for next year, he said. The ISS crew “is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies,” NASA said in a news release. “We are relieved to hear there are no reported fatalities, and we anticipate learning more about the circumstances surrounding the launch failure in the near future,” said House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Space Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., in a joint statement.