Unmanned NASA Rocket Explodes On Liftoff

NASA officials say "we'll figure out what the failure is, we'll fix it and we'll learn from it."  That after an unmanned rocket blew up a short time after it was launched from a facility along coastal Virginia.

The rocket was carrying 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.  The rocket and its payload was a total loss estimated at $200-million with millions of dollars in additional damage to the launch pad.

Witnesses described a huge fireball followed by consecutive booms.  Fire crews couldn't do much more than just let the fire burn itself out.