RIA Novosti: Crashed U.S. Supply Rocket Antares Partly Developed in Ukraine: Design Office

MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) – The first stage work of the US supply rocket Antares, which exploded seconds after lift-off on Tuesday, was conducted by Ukrainian state design office Yuzhnoye, according to the company’s website.

“The Antares LV stage one core structure was developed by Yuzhnoye State Design Office, manufactured by Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant (YMZ) in cooperation with Ukrainian companies: Khartron-ARKOS (Kharkov), Kievpribor (Kiev), Khartron-YUKOM (Zaporozh’e), CHEZARA, RAPID (Chernigov) et al,” the company said on its website.

According to nasaspaceflight.com, the Antares’ first stage is loosely based on the Zenit rocket also developed by Yuzhnoye. The rocket is powered by a pair of AJ26-58 rocket engines – modified versions of the NK-33 engines developed by the Soviet Union in the ’70s.

On Tuesday, the rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft carrying more than two tons of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) exploded six seconds after lifting off from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, United States.

NASA stated that the ISS is able to rely on its own supplies until March 2015 if no other spacecraft makes it to the space station.

A special commission has been set up in the United States to investigate the circumstances and causes of the explosion.