--- title: Gallery: Photos of NASA's Catastrophic Antares Launch description: Photos o fan unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket that exploded shortly after launching from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. canonical: https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-05T03:13:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:40:03.812Z article:section: Science og:title: See NASA's Photos of the Catastrophic Antares Rocket Launch og:description: Luckily, nobody was hurt. og:url: https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7aadcfc3023855/69886f98a988caddb16b5225/atk-launch-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ATK-Launch-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See NASA's Photos of the Catastrophic Antares Rocket Launch twitter:description: Luckily, nobody was hurt. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7aadcfc3023855/69886f98a988caddb16b5225/atk-launch-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See NASA's Photos of Last Year's 'Catastrophic' Antares Rocket Launch ## Video: A Year In Space - Ep. 5: Welcome Aboard [Watch (HLS stream): A Year In Space - Ep. 5: Welcome Aboard](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w7OrO6vz.m3u8) (15:12)  _Published 2015-10-27. Watch astronauts board the International Space Station in the 5th episode of TIME's series 'A Year in Space'_ by [Lauren Jones](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## Lauren Jones Nov 5, 2015 3:13 AM UTC  Joel Kowsky—NASA by [Lauren Jones](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## Lauren Jones Nov 5, 2015 3:13 AM UTC On Oct. 28, 2014, an unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket exploded shortly after launching from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The flaming Antares rocket flopped back down to its launch pad, consuming its Cygnus spacecraft, carting 5,000 lb. of NASA cargo to the International Space Station, in an enormous fireball. NASA reported no injuries though described the crash as a “catastrophic anomaly.” Following the one year anniversary of the disaster, NASA has released photographs taken at the time by Joel Kowsky, a photo editor and photographer with the space agency in Washington D.C., of the stunning aftermath.  Joel Kowsky—NASA  Joel Kowsky—NASA  Joel Kowsky—NASA  Joel Kowsky—NASA  Joel Kowsky—NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/"},"headline":"See NASA's Photos of Last Year's 'Catastrophic' Antares Rocket Launch","datePublished":"2015-11-05T03:13:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:03.812Z","description":"Luckily, nobody was hurt","url":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Science topic","photography","LightBox"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7aadcfc3023855/69886f98a988caddb16b5225/atk-launch-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lauren Jones"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c7aadcfc3023855/69886f98a988caddb16b5225/atk-launch-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ATK-Launch-1","caption":"","creditText":"Joel Kowsky—NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/","name":"See NASA's Photos of Last Year's 'Catastrophic' Antares Rocket Launch"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year In Space - Ep. 5: Welcome Aboard","description":"Watch astronauts board the International Space Station in the 5th episode of TIME's series 'A Year in Space'","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/w7OrO6vz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-27T22:28:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w7OrO6vz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/","duration":"PT15M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4100035/nasa-antares-launch-photos-gallery/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```