Supply Rocket Explosion Impacts Students

Students had high hopes of having their experiments on board the Anteres rocket headed for the International Space Station, but their hopes were dashed when the rocket exploded.

Westmont Physics professor Ken Kihlstrom, Ph.D. said student experiments went up in smoke.

Hundreds of students entered their work in a contest to send their experiments to the International Space Station. About two dozen were selected. There is no word on whether the experiments can be recreated for a future cargo ship delivery.

Kihlstrom has a keen interest in space. One of his Standford teaching assistants was the late astronaut Sally Ride.

No one was hurt in the unmanned mission explosion, but it did remind people of the deadly 2003 Columbia disaster and the 1986 Challenger disaster. Seven astronauts died in each.

Nasa saves money by hiring private firms to send supply rockets to space.

The company Orbital Science’s Corp. that built Antares is publicly traded and insured.