( CNN ) An unmanned NASA-contracted rocket exploded in midair early Tuesday evening , producing huge flames and loud booms along the eastern Virginia coast but no injuries or deaths . Orbital Sciences Corp. 's Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft had been set to launch at 6:22 p.m . ET from the Wallops Flight Facility along the Atlantic Ocean , carrying roughly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station . It exploded about six seconds after launch . What was left of the spacecraft and rocket plummeted back to Earth , causing even more flames upon impact . The rocket and spacecraft -- which together cost more than $ 200 million , according to Frank Culbertson , the general manager of Orbital 's Advanced Programs Group -- are gone . And there 's obvious damage beyond that , including to the launchpad , though the night skies made it hard to immediately gauge how much . One thing officials do know is that rocket science is , in the words of NASA Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier , `` a really tough business . '' `` Tonight 's events really show the difficulty that it takes for us to do this task of delivering cargo to the space station , '' he said . What happened ? The Orbital rocket had been set to go up Monday , only to be scrubbed `` because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off , '' according to NASA . Coast Guard spokesman David Weydert said the boat that triggered the postponement was 40 miles offshore . Tuesday , by contrast , seemed perfect . Just before liftoff , NASA reported `` 100 % favorable '' weather and `` no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked . '' It seemed to be going perfectly when Ed Encina saw the launch brighten up the sky from his vantage point about 3 miles away . `` And then , all of a sudden , you see a big fireball , '' said Encina , a Baltimore Sun reporter . Encina recalled a loud boom that caused `` your feet ( to ) shake a little bit , '' as well as flames enveloping a roughly 100-yard area around the launchpad in a marshy area with brush . CNN iReporter Dymetria Sellers , who watched from a drawbridge because the NASA visitors station was ful , recalled a `` breathtakingly beautiful '' sight when the rocket ascended , followed by mass confusion as flames lit up the early nighttime sky moments later . `` About 30 seconds later , we could hear and feel two booms reach us , and it was apparent the rocket had exploded , '' she said . Did you witness the rocket explosion ? Please share your images . Mark Kelly , a former NASA astronaut , said such a colossal fire was to be expected . `` It takes a lot of propellant to take a spacecraft of that size moving 25 times the speed of sound , '' Kelly told CNN , explaining how fast the rocket should have gone on its way to the space station . `` So when it fails , it 's usually pretty catastrophic . '' Authorities said the safety parameters appear to have worked , and noted the lack of casualties . `` All we lost was hardware , '' Culbertson said . `` That hardware , however , is very important . '' Will rocket 's 'catastrophic failure ' set back the private space industry ? So what happened ? That 's exactly what officials -- both from public agencies like NASA and private companies like Orbital -- hope to find out in the coming days and weeks . `` What we know so far is pretty much what everybody saw on the video , '' Culbertson said . `` The ascent stopped , there was some , let 's say disassembly , of the first stage , and then it fell to Earth . ... We do n't really have any early indications of exactly what might have failed , and we need some time to look at that . '' Orbital will lead the investigation , along with the Federal Aviation Administration , with NASA assisting . Among other things , they 'll try to collect and examine any debris that can be recovered , review data from the spacecraft before its destruction and look at videos around the launch time . The main focus Tuesday night was safety . Bill Wrobel , the Wallops Flight Facility director , said fire crews had set up a perimeter around the affected area . `` We 're just basically letting the fire burn out , but they are contained , '' he added . Authorities expressed confidence that no people were directly affected by the explosion , but they could come across scattered remnants that are possibly floating in the water . As to when Orbital will fly again from Wallops , the only site it 's now permitted to launch from , Culbertson did n't specify a timetable beyond saying , `` We will fly again as soon as we can safely . '' Gerstenmaier offered a similar take : `` We 'll figure out what the failure is , we 'll fix it , and we 'll learn from it . '' In the meantime , they 'll have to rebound from the loss . A third of the spacecraft 's cargo was material for scientific investigations such as a Houston school 's experiment on pea growth and a study on blood flow in space . There also were basic supplies meant for the crew of the space station -- now orbiting more than 200 miles above Earth -- including more than 1,300 pounds of food . But in the short term , no one is saying the space station 's six-person crew will go hungry . NASA wo n't directly restock them , having relied on private companies to do so since the end of its space shuttle program . That includes Virginia-based Orbital , which had its first of eight planned ISS launches in January out of the Wallops facility as part of its $ 1.9 billion contract with NASA . Orbital becomes second private firm to send cargo to ISS . If Orbital ca n't resupply the space station , others can . On Wednesday , for instance , a Russian Soyuz resupply spacecraft stocked with cargo and crew supplies is set to launch from Kazakhstan . SpaceX , another private company , plans its fifth mission in December , including more supplies and a laser instrument to measure pollution , dust and other aspects of the atmosphere , according to NASA . Even if those missions somehow fail , the space station crew has enough on hand to last well into next year . `` The station is in great shape ; the crew is in good shape , '' said Mike Suffredini , NASA 's ISS manager . iReport : Explosion as seen from Maryland 's eastern shore . CNN 's Chandler Friedman , Kevin Conlon , Jareen Imam and Dave Alsup contributed to this report .
Explosion shows space travel `` a really tough business , '' NASA official says . Spacecraft , rocket alone cost over $ 200 million , Orbital Sciences exec says . Comment: The spacecraft burst into flames seconds after liftoff ; no injuries are reported .