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A supply rocket carrying cargo and experiments to the ISS exploded shortly after liftoff. NASA and Orbital Sciences (the company operating the rocket) have not released any information about what may have caused the incident, pending further investigation.
The mission was unmanned, and all personnel are safe and accounted for. The extent of the damage to the launch facility has not yet been determined.
Phil Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy blog speculates that the 60s-70s era refurbished Russian engines the vehicle used will come under heavy scrutiny.
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ISS Resupply Rocket Explodes Shortly after Launch
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ANN JILLIAN'S HAIR makes LONI ANDERSON'S HAIR look like RICARDO
MONTALBAN'S HAIR!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday October 29 2014, @05:07PM
What's the status of closed cycle (staged combustion) type of rockets? is such ones manufactured currently?
Is there any company besides SpaceX that tries to move the technology forward? otoh, cost is an important factor.
(Score: 2) by gman003 on Wednesday October 29 2014, @05:12PM
Most of them are staged combustion now. Russia's big on it (they figured out the metallurgy for hot oxidizer-heavy flows before we did), and most of the LH2 engines are staged combustion (because if you're going to use such an expensive fuel, you aren't going to waste it).