ATLANTIC, Va. (AP) — The owners of a commercial supply ship that exploded moments after liftoff promised to find the cause of the failed delivery mission to the International Space Station and warned residents to not touch any debris they might stumble across from the craft, which was carrying hazardous materials. No injuries were reported following the... (Associated Press) 
 
 An unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket headed for the International Space Station explodes shortly after liftoff from the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. on Tuesday, Oct. 28,... (Associated Press) 
 
 An unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket headed for the International Space Station lifts off from the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 shortly before... (Associated Press) 
 
 Spectators in Chincoteague, Va. watch the fireball from the explosion of the unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island, Va. on... (Associated Press) 
 
 This image taken from video provided by NASA TV shows Orbital Sciences Corp.'s unmanned rocket blowing up over the launch complex at Wallops Island, Va., just six seconds after liftoff. The company says... (Associated Press) 
 
 Crews planned to hit the ground at daybreak Wednesday to search for pieces of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo module, which blew up Tuesday night just moments after lifting off from NASA's launch complex at Wallops Island, Virginia, said Bill Wrobel, director of the facility. The rocket carried a Cygnus cargo ship with more than 5,000 pounds (2,273 kg) of equipment and supplies for the station, a $100 billion research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations that orbits about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth. The Cygnus mission was non-military but the craft included classified cryptographic equipment, said Mike Pinkston, Orbital's Antares program manager, requiring heightened security. NASA is paying billions of dollars to Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to make station deliveries, and it's counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start flying U.S. astronauts to the orbiting lab as early as 2017. It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago. Orbital Sciences is contracted to conduct eight supply missions delivering 20 tons of material to the space station. President Barack Obama has long championed this commercial space effort. "GREAT LOSS" 
 
 Investigators will need days to determine where the failure began, said Frank Culbertson, an Orbital executive vice president and mission director, who placed the value of the rocket and cargo ship at $200 million. The explosion hit Orbital Science's stock, which fell more than 15 percent in after-hours trading. John Logdson, former space policy director at George Washington University, said the explosion was unlikely to be a major setback to NASA's commercial space plans. At a news conference Tuesday night, Culbertson and others said everyone at the launch site had been accounted for and the damage appeared to be limited to the facilities. Culbertson said he believes the range-safety staff sent a destruct signal to the rocket after it encountered problems and before it hit the ground, but was not certain. "We will not fly until we understand the root cause," he said, adding that it was too early to guess how long it might take to make the rocket repairs and fix the launch pad. He shot video with an iPad that shows what Sealing called two explosions, a small one followed by a bigger one. Russia's Roskosmos space agency said it was ready to help ferry extra U.S. cargo to the space station if NASA requested. While no one was hurt, witnesses said the explosion looked like a "ball of fire" and shook buildings for miles. ___ 
 
 Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida. ___ 
 
 Online: 
 
 NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html 
 
 Orbital Sciences: https://www.orbital.com/
– The cause of yesterday's rocket explosion over Wallops Island, Va., remains under investigation: While a tweet from Orbital Sciences refers to a "vehicle anomaly," other reports have focused on aging rocket engines. They were built in the 1960s and 1970s to send Soviet cosmonauts to the moon, the Guardian reports. Why use them? "There are not many other options around the world in terms of using power plants of this size, certainly not in this country," says Frank Culbertson, an exec with Orbital Sciences. Concerns about the engines have previously been raised, both by Congress and rival SpaceX. "Their rocket honestly sounds like the punchline to a joke," boss Elon Musk said in 2012. A similar engine exploded during a test in May, Reuters reports, but the rocket has taken off four times before without accident. Other developments: Culbertson says things appeared to be going wrong with the 14-story rocket within about 10 seconds of liftoff—it's just not clear what. "We will understand what happened—hopefully soon—and we'll get things back on track." Though no lives were lost in the explosion, hundreds of millions of dollars in cargo was, the Guardian notes, pointing to "classified cryptographic" equipment. Nothing "absolutely critical" is gone, says a NASA official. But a meteor tracker, 32 mini-satellites, and a school experiment testing the growth of pea shoots in space were also lost, USA Today adds. Orbital Sciences was insured to the tune of more than $200 million, Culbertson tells the AP. The company's stock took an after-hours hit of 15%. And in a tragic turn of events for one Marylander aboard the ISS: The crabcakes he was supposed to get are presumably burned beyond recognition.