Reporters run for cover as Antares rocket explodes

The first pair of new Russian main engines for Orbital ATK’s modernized Antares rocket has arrived at the company’s Virginia launch base as engineers prepare to return the commercial booster to flight after a catastrophic failure last year.

A recap of the successful start to Orbital ATK’s OA-7 resupply mission to the International Space Station is given in this post-launch news conference held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center following the Atlas 5 rocket’s delivery of the Cygnus cargo ship into space.

The 15th resupply mission to the International Space Station by a Cygnus cargo freighter lifted off at 12:36 p.m. EST (1736 GMT) Saturday aboard an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Northrop Grumman-owned spacecraft is carrying more than 8,000 pounds of experiments and provisions for the space station and its seven-person crew. Capture by the station’s robotic arm occurred at 4:38 a.m. EST (0938 GMT) Monday.