On Oct. 28, 2014, an unmanned NASA Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded in the air during liftoff to the International Space Station at 6:22 p.m. EDT from NASA's Wallops fight facility in eastern Virginia. The explosion transpired Tuesday night sparked flashbacks of the tragic NASA Rocket Challenger Explosion in 1986.
When the Antares rocket exploded just after it lifted off the launch pad Tuesday evening in eastern Virginia, blazing fires and clouds of white smoke engulfed the scene. According to a New York Post report, the rocket emitted fire causing severe major damages to its takeoff site. But there are no human casualties reported. While the NASA Rocket Challenger explosion in 1986 documented 7 deaths.
The surrounding launch pad area, where the Antares exploded, was secured because of Top Secret cargo and classified research hardware were onboard the craft. The explosion also dropped highly explosive solid rocket fuel on the ground.
The Antares explosion is not the first failed launch that has taken place since the US has explored space flight. Based on a USA Today report, the Tuesday night's NASA explosion is actually one of dozens failed launches and some of them have been tragic.
The Antares explosion Tuesday brought back unpleasant memories to those who were around in 1986. The NASA's Challenger rocket explosion took place on live television on Jan. 28, killing the seven crews on board and leaving the whole American nation in shock.
The NASA rocket explosion disaster in 1986 occurred when space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into the flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members namely, Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka and Judith Resnik and the last two Payload specialists, Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.
The Challenger spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The disintegration of the vehicle started after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff.
The 1986 NASA explosion disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by US President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident.
In the 25 years of space exploration in 1986, the Challenger tragedy has killed five men and two women including the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, to fly in space. In a BBC News 1986 report, millions of Americans witnessed the world's worst space disaster live on television. And President Reagan has described the disaster as "a national loss."
As a result of the NASA rocket explosion in 1986, the Outer Space Universe Organization said the shuttle fleet of the US space program was grounded for two and a half years while the disaster was analyzed and improvements made. However, reports said the rocket explosion was certainly not the first major space flight disaster. In 2003, Bloomberg reported that Columbia was destroyed during its reentry into Earth's atmosphere killing 7 of its crew members.
