Video: Antares rocket explodes

An Orbital ATK investigation into last year’s Antares rocket crash in Virginia identified a decades-old manufacturing defect inside an AJ26 engine turbopump as the most likely cause of the failure, but a team of NASA engineers was not so sure in their report.

An upgraded Castor 30XL upper stage motor will provide the Antares rocket with an extra boost during launch with supplies and experiments for the International Space Station, a critical upgrade Orbital Sciences says will ensure it meets contractual cargo delivery requirements.

The first pair of RD-181 rocket engines set to launch on Orbital ATK’s redesigned Antares rocket are in the final stages of acceptance testing in Russia ahead of their export to the United States in early July, officials said.