No injuries reported in Antares rocket explosion

Fifteen seconds after liftoff, an explosion brought an unmanned Antares rocket falling to the ground Tuesday night.

A fireball lit up the sky at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Officials expressed disappointment in the launch failure but gratitude that no one was injured.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) FRANK CULBERTSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF ADVANCED PROGRAMS GROUP AT ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP., SAYING:

"It's a tough time to lose a launch vehicle like this and its payload. It's not as tragic as losing a life associated with it so we're very happy to report there were no injuries and the safeguards both in flight and on the ground worked as they should have and all we lost was hardware."

The incident marked the first accident since NASA turned to private operators to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

This rocket was built and launched by Orbital Sciences Corporation, which said it would conduct a thorough investig