Gallery: Antares rocket explodes

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was transfered from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Tuesday’s launch of a commercially-operated cargo ship to resupply the International Space Station.

Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket returned to flight Oct. 17 with a successful evening launch from Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a beacon visible for hundreds of miles along the U.S. East Coast as the 13-story rocket set course for a cargo delivery to the International Space Station.

Orbital ATK’s upgraded Antares rocket, featuring newly-built RD-181 main engines, completed a 30-second test firing on a launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore on Tuesday.