Gallery: Antares rocket explodes

The year ended with a deluge of big news, reminding us of the risks of spaceflight and the thin margins between success and failure on the final frontier. 2014 was also a year of breakthroughs in the exploration of the solar system and the future of human spaceflight.

Watch the post-launch press conference held at the Kennedy Space Center following the successful launch of an Atlas 5 carrying Orbital ATK’s Cygnus AO-6 cargo craft, which is headed to the International Space Station.

Loaded with investigations into chemotherapy drugs with reduced side effects and radiation detectors for homeland security, a plant-growing chamber to promote future food harvesting in space and a technology demonstration for sample-return capsules, a commercial Cygnus cargo vessel will be sent to the International Space Station next week.