Last night, an unmanned cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station malfunctioned ~10 seconds after launch. The Orbital Sciences rocket and spacecraft were both destroyed. The NASA launch site on the coast of Virginia was certainly damaged, although the extent of the damage is unclear. The single piece of good news is that no one was injured or killed because, as is the case with all rocket launches, extensive safety precautions were taken.
Rocket launches occur with such regularity these days that they seem common, uneventful, routine. They don’t even make the news most of the time. The general public isn’t interested. But then we are reminded that spaceflight is anything but common, anything but uneventful, anything but routine.
Space is hard. Really HARD.
It is heartbreaking to see something you’ve worked so hard on go up, literally, in smoke. This morning I’m thinking about the Orbital team, and all the NASA people who support them. And I know they will all come back stronger than ever.
Denise says
I was sorry to hear about it this morning. My cousin and her husband both also work for NASA, she specifically on the ISS program. My grandfather worked in the program from the 60’s till his retirement from Cape Canaveral in the early 90’s. It is never easy for any failure no matter what precaution has been taken. I enjoy following you and follow you from your guest post from Life in Translation.
Jen de Jong says
We were visiting Stennis Space Center when we saw the news. So sad to see, and a poignant reminder that we can’t take our successes for granted.