The launch of NASA’s Antares on Tuesday ended in disaster when the unmanned rocket exploded during take-off.
The explosion was caught on camera by a passenger of a Cessna 177 propeller plane that was flying at over 900ft above the Virginia launch site.
The Orbital Sciences Antares rocket was destined for the International Space Station (ISS) and was carrying supplies for the crew of six people on board the ISS when it exploded. Luckily no one was injured during the blast and the Russian Space Agency was able to re-supply the space station instead of the Antares rocket.
The footage of the explosion is quite dramatic and Ed Sealing, who captured the air footage, described it as ‘very fortunate’.
New footage has also emerged that shows the media scattering to cover when the rocket bursts into flames. Some of the journalists flee inside a small marquee, but we think that would be pretty useless protection if the fire from above started raining down on them…
Videos via Ed Sealing and Astronomy Now
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