Private unmanned craft carrying supplies for International Space Station crashes and burns on Nasa launchpad in Virginia
• Antares disaster is stark reminder of ‘incredible dangers’ of spaceflightThe company behind a resupply mission to the International Space Station that ended in a spectacular explosion over a Virginia launchpad has defended the exhaust of ageing Soviet rockets amid growing questions over Nasa’s reliance on private contractors to fill gaps in the US space program.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment,ranging from “classified cryptographic” gear to school science experiments, was destroyed in a giant fireball on Tuesday evening after technicians detonated a self-destruct mechanism six seconds after launch because of a “catastrophic” equipment failure.
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Source: theguardian.com