Bill Nye: NASA rocket explosion is 'heartbreaking'
An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket exploded early Tuesday evening along the eastern Virginia coast, causing a huge fireball but no apparent deaths.
"There was failure on launch," NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. "There was no indicated loss of life."
NASA's mission control is trying to assess what went wrong. The launch director says they must maintain the crash site securely because of security concerns about the equipment on board - saying the rocket had "classified crypto equipment" on board.
According to NASA, the Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft were set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean. It was set to carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.
In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Scientist Bill Nye weighs in with his thoughts on why the rocket exploded during its launch.
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about ebola! people have a conviction to go to a foreign country to help humanity. they know the risks but still go. great! where is that conviction when they return to THERE country. they know there is a risk involved, they COULD be infected...why do they feel it is an infrigment on there rights to make sure there conviction to help does not put people in danger here at home. they should be treated with respect and when needed quarentined.