An unmanned Antares rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff from a launch pad in Virginia on Tuesday, marking the first accident since NASA turned to private operators to send cargo to the International Space Station.
Officials have confirmed that no one was hurt during the incident, according to Reuters.
The 14-story rocket, which was built and launched by Orbital Sciences Corp, blasted off from the Wallops Flight Facility at 6:22 p.m. EDT carrying a Cygnus cargo ship for the space station.
It exploded just a few moments later.
The cause of the incident has not been announced yet.
NASA mission commentator Dan Huot said there were no reports of any personnel in the vicinity of the explosion. An Accomack County Sheriff's spokeswoman added, "As far as we know, all personnel are accounted for and everyone's OK."
"We've confirmed that all personnel have been accounted for. We have no injuries in the operation today," said Orbital Sciences in a statement.
Damage appeared to be limited to the launch facility and rocket, NASA launch control said. The rocket has been launched successfully on four previous missions before Tuesday.
"This has been a lot of hard work to get to this point," Orbital Sciences Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson said to the launch team before liftoff, according to Reuters.
Launch had been postponed a day after a boat sailed into a safety zone under the rocket's intended flight path.
Orbital Sciences is one of two companies hired by NASA recently to send fly cargo to the station after the space shuttles were retired. The second is run by privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, which is preparing for its fourth flight under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.
Tuesday's scheduled flight was supposed to be the third of eight under Orbital Sciences' $1.9 billion contract with NASA.
Orbital Sciences stock was down 12.74 percent after hours, or down $3.87 at $26.50.
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