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.

Orbital Sciences Corp. and Energia have signed a contract worth approximately $1 billion for up to 60 Russian-made RD-181 rocket engines to power the redesigned first stage of the commercial Antares launcher.

Initial inspections of the Antares rocket’s launch pad in Virginia revealed the facility escape major damage after sustaining nearly a direct hit from the booster as it fell to the ground in flames seconds after liftoff.