Reporters run for cover as Antares rocket explodes

Concluding 80 days attached the International Space Station, the commercial Cygnus cargo ship will be detached to fly away Tuesday for an unprecedented onboard fire experiment before re-entering the atmosphere next week.

NASA is gearing up for an intense few weeks of work aboard the International Space Station, staging three spacewalks, moving a docking port from one module to another to support commercial crew ferry ships and capturing an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship carrying nearly 4 tons of equipment and supplies.

A commercial Cygnus resupply ship named for Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. — the first African American selected as an astronaut — is awaiting liftoff Sunday evening from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore to begin a 35-hour trip to the International Space Station.