Explosion unlikely to derail private space travel

The explosion of the Antares rocket has raised questions about the future of commercial space travel - but analysts say private launches remain on the horizon.

"This is going to be a setback. There's no doubt," said Fredrick Jenet, director of the Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy at the University of Texas-Brownsville, who is helping in the transition from federal to commercial space travel. "But we're just in the beginning. To stop now would just be wrong. It wouldn't make sense."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., offered a vote of confidence to commercial launch providers.

"Space flight is inherently risky," he said in a statement. "As we push the frontiers of space, there will be setbacks. But our commercial space ventures will ultimately be successful."

Officials at NASA and Orbital Sciences, the contractor who supplied the rockets, began gathering data Tuesday to determine the cause of the explosion. The unmanned rocket was headed to the International Space Station loaded with supplies. No injuries were reported.

Frank Culbertson, an Orbital executive vice president, said in a press conference that the company will not pursue further flights until the cause is thoroughly investigated.

That leaves one commercial provider of cargo to the International Space Station: SpaceX, the space exploration company started by PayPal founder Elon Musk. The Antares rocket explosion was unlikely to impact SpaceX's Cape Canaveral launch scheduled for Dec. 9 or its plans to build a spaceport in Brownsville, Texas.

Space Frontier Foundation, a California non-profit that advocates commercial space travel, took to Twitter shortly after the explosion in support of private space travel: "Rough day for all involved in #Orb3. But the US commercial Space industry is resiliant (sic), and it will come back better."

Orbital Sciences -- and the private space flight industry in general -- will need to win back the public's confidence following the blast, said James Pura, the foundation's president and director. But commercial launch providers work hand-in-hand with NASA engineers on these types of launches, so any oversights on the launch slipped through federal oversight as well, he said.

Tuesday's explosion, though disheartening, is part of the natural evolution of commercial space travel, he said.

"We learn from failures 10 times more than we do successes," Pura said. "This is just a speed bump on the road to future space settlement."

NASA signed contracts with private space companies such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences since retiring its space shuttle program in 2011. The new programs have been hailed a success, helping Orbital and SpaceX develop rockets and spacecraft for less than $800 million in taxpayer funds. SpaceX recently completed its fourth successful resupply run under a $1.6 billion contract.

That contract is part of the so-called "new space" movement -- led by firms such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, and the Virgin Group's Virgin Galactic -- that are building cheaper, reusable spacecraft and paving the way to space tourism. The goal is to launch astronauts and eventually private citizens into space using privately developed rockets and launch ports.

Tuesday's mishap may not derail the movement but it is likely to give fodder to critics who say NASA is rushing into private contracts without proper oversight.

In a May budget hearing, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., blasted the federal space agency for spending billions of dollars to help private companies develop launch vehicles without having access to the financial records associated with the investment.

"The fact is there is no transparency into the true total investment in these vehicles," said Shelby, whose state is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "Notwithstanding the total federal investment, I am most troubled that these programs lack an oversight component."

But without companies like SpaceX, the USA would be reliant on countries such as Russia for ferrying supplies to the space station, Jenet said.

Explosions such as Orbital's are fairly routine in the early stages of a space industry, he said. NASA experienced various explosions and mishaps as it developed its early rockets, Jenet said.

"You're taking an entire governmental organization with the assets of the U.S. government and shifting it to a smaller operation," he said. "There's going to be a learning curve."

Contributing: James Dean, Florida Today