NASA Releases Awesome Images of Not-Awesome Rocket Explosion & a Report on Causes

Last year, on October 28, a rocket—thankfully unmanned—just on its way to resupply the international space station exploded. It’s always disappointing when several million dollars of rocket science—not to mention the experiments that were on board—go up in smoke (and a tower of fire), but a year later, NASA has released a pretty nifty consolation prize in the form of these pictures.

The new images were released on the NASA HQ Photo Flickr account shortly after a new report from the space agency detailing just what might have gone wrong with the Antares rocket’s launch. The report details several faults that were possible causes of the rocket’s failure, and it recommends steps to be taken in the future to make sure a similar incident does not occur.

Now, on to more of the incredible new images:

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard suffers a catastrophic anomaly moments after launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus spacecraft was filled with supplies slated for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions.

(via Gizmodo, images via NASA/Joel Kowsky)

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