RUSSIAN ROCKET FAILURE ON NASA ATTEMPT TO GET SUPPLIES INTO SPACE -- COVER-UP BEGINS
Preview on this breaking story by Verne Strickland usa dot com: 10/28/14 8:31 pm
Spectacular explosion of NASA rocket at launch tonight. This is the fine print. The real story is that the rocket is Russian-made, and many serious problems have happened in previous launches.
But see this statement from AOL story of the failed Russian engine tonight at Wallop's Island launch site in Virginia:
"A radio operator advised all staffers on the launch to remain at their
work stations, according to audio of the launch on NASA TV. Later
instructions strangely included the scrubbing of all launch notes and
observations."
VS: This extraordinarily unusual -- almost unprecedented in such NASA operations. Until further explanation, a cover-up might be suspected, in view of the use of a Russian-designed rocket engine.
This is part of the story which unfolded tonight -- sanitized just as the "scrubbing" of all launch notes and observations.
A
rocket built for NASA by a private contractor exploded shortly after
lifting off Tuesday night from the space agency's Wallops Flight
Facility in Virginia.
The unmanned Antares rocket was carrying about 5,000 pounds of supplies
to the International Space Station (ISS). It was built by a Orbital
Sciences Corporation (OSC) and launched in collaboration with the space
agency.
Problems became apparent only 6 seconds into the 6:22 p.m. launch when
the rocket stopped climbing, started falling and two radio operators
shouted over each other.
Stunned silence accompanied the rocket's stunning fall back to Earth and spectacular explosion when it hit the ground.
"A radio operator advised all staffers on the launch to remain at their
work stations, according to audio of the launch on NASA TV. Later
instructions strangely included the scrubbing of all launch notes and
observations."
A statement issued to CNN shortly after the accident said "there was no
apparent loss of life," but significant damage to property and vehicles.
The privately-built rocket's mission was meant to provide supplies to
astronauts on the ISS, and observers online immediately wondered what
the ramifications to the ISS were. About 1,360 pounds of food were
included in the supplies.
Also included in the payload were 1,602 pounds of science experiments,
1,404 pounds of vehicle hardware, 273 pounds of flight equipment, 145
pounds of spacewalk equipment, about 82 pounds of computers and 15
pounds of flight procedures manuals, according to NASA.
The space agency's launch commander said "classified crypto equipment"
was also included in the payload, but no further information was
provided.
The ISS cannot be used for military or spy purposes.
Antares was seen by NASA as the first step towards the future of space
travel and exploration when a nearly $2 billion contract was awarded by the space agency to OSC.
The company called the incident a "vehicle anomaly" in an official statement.
"It is far too early to know the details of what happened," said Mr.
Frank Culbertson, Orbital's Executive Vice President and General Manager
of its Advanced Programs Group.
"We will conduct a thorough investigation immediately to determine the
cause of this failure and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of
this incident," he continued. "As soon as we understand the cause we
will begin the necessary work to return to flight to support our
customers and the nation's space program."
Experts who spoke to CNN believe there may have been a self-destruction
of the rocket after it's first launch stage failed. It is not clear if
that would have been a manual or automated process, if the rocket did
self-destruct.
The launch was originally scheduled for Monday evening but scrubbed because a boat was in the area off Wallops Island.
Another privately-built rocket, from SpaceX, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral no earlier than December.
This is a developing story, more information will come as it is made available.
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Verne Strickland: Watch this story closely. This is the first step in commercial space travel in cooperation with NASA -- with an exploding Russian-designed rocket.
There are signs of U.S. Government cover-up -- possibly to spare Russian embarrassment.
USA DOT COM has already gathered archival information about Russian rocket failures. Watch this site for more.