Orbital Sciences / Antares Anomaly

Sorry to hear that Antares had a launch failure today. A not-so-subtle reminder that this is a risky business.

I was amazed to see them (Range Safety?) let the rocket fall back, almost all the way back down to the Wallops Island launch pad, before they destroyed it. I would think they incurred an unnecessary risk to the pad by waiting so long. Once forward motion is gone, you'd think they'd destroy it immediately at that altitude, so save as much of the pad as possible.

Here's a link to early SpaceFlightNow coverage of the story, and a later story.

Update 10/31: It looks like maybe the launch pad survived with minimal damage.

The initial investigation appears to be focusing on the first stage propulsion section, specifically the AJ26 Russian-made engines, although they're not talking about any specific cause yet.