An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket that was carrying equipment for the International Space Station exploded along the eastern Virginia coast late on Tuesday.
The Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft lifted off from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean with some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments for the space station.
"There was failure on launch," National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman Jay Bolden said. "There was no indicated loss of life." There was significant property and vehicle damage, he said, and Mission Control began assessing what went wrong.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the launch failure of the rocket, the White House press pool reported.
"The President was briefed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Anita Decker Breckenridge and will continue to get updates as more information becomes available," the pool statement said.