As Orbital seeks to fly again, new photos of its dramatic crash last year

The Antares rocket blew up just 15 seconds after launching. (credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

It's a cliche but also true: rocket science is hard. And it's been a difficult year for Orbital ATK, the American company that designs and builds small- and medium-sized rockets. In October, 2014, the company's Antares rocket carrying its Cygnus spacecraft exploded 15 seconds after launching, and the company has been dealing with the aftermath ever since.

Finally, at the end of this October, NASA completed its investigation of the accident and released an executive summary. Like the company's own investigation, the NASA report cited a problem with the rocket's aging Russian AJ-26 engine. As part of that report, NASA also released its own detailed photos of the accident, shown in the gallery below. They offer an unprecedented view of the rocket failing and falling catastrophically back to the spaceport on Virginia's Wallops Island.

NASA/Joel Kowsky

Orbital ATK's Antares rocket, carrying the Cygnus spacecraft, exploded shortly after launching on October 28, 2014. This gallery of recently released NASA images shows photos of the accident from several angles.

20 more images in gallery

The company, with mixed success, has tried to move on. Orbital is working to incorporate a different engine, the RD-181, to provide the thrust for its Antares rocket. Tests of this new rocket could occur early in 2016, the company said.

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