Clues Sought in Rocket Explosion
COSTELLO: Investigators from NASA and a private company are searching the eastern Virginia coastline for clues into what led to the explosion of an unmanned NASA contracted rocket. That's just incredible pictures. The rocket actually exploded in air and then it fell to the ground and exploded again. Luckily it was unmanned. This rocket made by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It was destroyed six seconds after liftoff. The rocket had just cleared the launch tower when it's believed safety crew were forced to send a destructive signal after the rocket encountered a catastrophic failure. You can see that for yourself. The cargo ship supplies equipment and experiments headed to the International Space Station, all destroyed with this rocket. Rachel Crane joins me now. Let's talk about private companies making these rockets.</s>RACHEL CRANE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.</s>COSTELLO: And in charge of sending supplies in one day astronauts to the International Space Station.</s>CRANE: Right. A big responsibility.</s>COSTELLO: Big responsibility. So what happened with Orbital?</s>CRANE: Well, what people don't realize, actually, is that NASA has worked with the private sector since the genesis of the space agency. Actually, Boeing is the main contractor on the International Space Station. So this reliance on the private sector by NASA is nothing new. And we're not going to see that relationship change just as a result of an accident like this.</s>COSTELLO: But Orbital has to be sitting back today and just -- I mean, they have to be devastated.</s>CRANE: Right. Of course.</s>COSTELLO: Not just financially, right?</s>CRANE: Right. No, I mean, this is certainly tarnishing their reputation. SpaceX has successfully flown all of their missions to the International Space Station. This was certainly a high-profile accident. But luckily it was unmanned, it was simply cargo, yes, 5,000 pounds of it but, you know, no one was injured. No deaths occurred.</s>COSTELLO: Well, I do think it's interesting that Orbital depends on old technology to build its rockets.</s>CRANE: Yes.</s>COSTELLO: SpaceX is the other company that NASA is under contract with.</s>CRANE: Contracted.</s>COSTELLO: And actually SpaceX is going to be responsible for sending astronauts up into space.</s>CRANE: Right. Along with Boeing.</s>COSTELLO: So why is Orbital using this old technology. Why wouldn't it say, "Wow, this is our chance to show what we can do"?</s>CRANE: Right. Well, it's interesting. You know, there's sort of like this space trash talk that happens within the aerospace industry and back in 2012 Elon Musk actually referred to the Orbital science system as a joke. Now he tweeted out yesterday his condolences for the company so certainly no one's rooting for anybody to have some sort of explosion. The industry wins when everybody wins but it's certainly a competitive spirit out there to say the least.</s>COSTELLO: So what will happen now with Orbital? They'll --</s>CRANE: So this was the third of eight missions that NASA has contracted with them to run cargo back and forth for the International Space Station. There are stipulations for accidents like this to occur. There's no reason to believe that this contract is in jeopardy as a result of this accident and certainly Boeing and SpaceX's contract is not in jeopardy in terms of their manned space explorations. That's supposed to happen in about 2017.</s>COSTELLO: Huge contract. $1.8 billion, right?</s>CRANE: Yes. We're talking major dollars.</s>COSTELLO: Yes. Rachel Crane, thank you so much. Appreciate it.</s>CRANE: Thank you so much.</s>COSTELLO: Less than 12 hours after that failed launch in Virginia, a Russian cargo ship left Kazakhstan headed for the International Space Station. It will deliver supplies and cargo to the crew already in space. This launch was scheduled before yesterday's explosion and, as you can see, there it goes. It went off without a hitch. Here it goes. Up into space. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, prices at the pump dropping. Under $3 a gallon in many states. How low can those prices go? CNN's Christine Romans is at a gas station in New Jersey to tell us.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: 85,000 gas stations across this country have $3 or below gasoline prices. Now that's two-thirds of all gas stations. Three bucks or below. I'm at one of them and I'm going to tell you how long this will last right after the break.