Every Sunday On The Pocomoke Public Eye..

<1800<1850<Time<1900<1950<Machine<2000<<

It's reader-friendly viewing of newspaper archive and historical archive material, primarily of local interest. 

This week we share items from 1900, 1971, 1890, 1880, 1954, and 1903.

Check back tomorrow, 11/9, right here!

Ghosts under the Chesapeake -- Prehistory of Delmarva, Part 3:

Bob Jones posted in Worc. Co., MD, History, Bob Jones, Coordinator

Bob Jones 9:50am Nov 6 Ghosts under the Chesapeake -- Prehistory of Delmarva, Part 3: The colossal impact-crater buried under the southern tip of Delmarva is not the only ghost lurking in the murky depths of the Chesapeake Bay. There are at least three ancient "skeletons" that had much to do with the shape of our land. In 1948, when Bay Bridge engineers in search of firm footing drilled boreholes across the Bay, they hit coarse river gravel 120 feet down, uncovering the first evidence that an ancient river valley was buried beneath the Bay. The Delmarva Peninsula used to be a much larger land mass. In fact, it was not a peninsula at all. It was high and dry. In those Olden Days, eons ago, if you had wanted to go catch some crabs at Public Landing or enjoy a meal at Greenback's Crusty Crab you would have driven 75 miles -- that's how far it was to the coast line. On the other hand, if you had wanted to drive to Crisfield, you would have driven all the way to Smith Island before arriving at water's edge -- and not salt water, but fresh . . . and not on the bay but on a river . . . the Susquehanna River, the great river at the head of the Bay that pours in nearly 50 percent of the river water entering our estuary today. In those distant times, it was not an estuary, but a river like any river flowing towards the ocean, which it did not reach until some 70 miles east of Norfolk. But at that time -- millions of years ago -- we were in a great ice age. Sea levels drop due to the removal of large volumes of water above sea level in the icecaps. These sheets of ice could be a mile or two thick. The sea level dropped 400 feet or even more, exposing the continental shelves. The weight of the ice sheets was so great that they deformed the Earth's crust and mantle. When an ice sheet melted, torrents of water would flow down river valleys to the ocean, and it was in this way that the ancient Susquehanna River got flooded and its bed got covered with the course river gravel discovered there in 1948. In those distant remote times, this ancient river did not empty into the sea at Norfolk -- it emptied at Exmore. So, Delmarva was then much shorter. As the geologic ages unfolded, glaciation alternated with warming periods, which cause sea levels to retreat, and then advance. Whenever, the sea level rose, it would bring in sand to deposit in the Exmore region, and also flood the ancient Susquehanna River valley. Later, when sea level fell, the river bed would trap gravel and sediment and get filled up. Each time this cycle reoccurred, a new Susquehanna channel would be gorged out, and each time further to the west. Why did the shift always head southward? There is an important south-flowing longshore current. Sand came sweeping down the ocean side of the Delmarva Peninsula, carried by a south-flowing longshore current. At the mouth of the Bay, the longshore current meets the tidal currents entering the Chesapeake. This confrontation causes the sand to stop, and it then builds up. The work of Robert Mixon, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey, helped put together the pieces of this Delmarva puzzle. He explains the phenomenon this way: Though the peninsula began as a short spit of land, it was a spit susceptible to great growth spurts — and great growth pauses. It grew with rising sea levels, and it paused with falling sea levels. When warm eras brought rising seas, ocean currents would pile up sand and sediment — extending the southern end of the spit. As the river at the end of the spit became an estuary, it filled up — and the Delmarva spit simply extended itself right across the flat channel. The forces of nature buried the Exmore Channel first, then it buried the Eastville Channel (150,000 years old). The Cape Charles Channel is buried under Fisherman’s Island. Each growth spurt ended in an ice age: falling sea levels drained the ocean away, terminating sand deliveries, and exposing the Delmarva as a long, low hill along the empty, dry plains of the continental shelf. In our present era, the ocean has risen so high that the "hill" we're on has the illusion of being a peninsula. Looking at the three maps, we can see how the sand deposited in the Exmore Region became an obstacle causing the mouth of the river to move southward. The three ancient channels thus shifted, emptying first into the Atlantic at Exmore, later at Eastville, and finally at Cape Charles (18,000 years old). Those towns thus sit astride the mouths of old river beds. I drew my material from various web sites, the most helpful being this one: http://www.chesapeakequarterly.net/V10N1/main/

TIME MACHINE ... This Sunday's Preview

 1900.. The well known "Cedar Hall Farm" is for sale; 1971.. A Dodger great had fond memories of baseball in Pocomoke; 1890.. An Eastern Shore town's moment in history; 1880.. A police force of one in Ocean City; 1954.. It's a "no" for voting machines in Somerset County; and more of the observations of a 1903 visitor to Chincoteague. 

Although you may not find all of these items in a history book, they are a part of our local history and you can read more about it this Sunday right here at The Pocomoke Public Eye!

Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!

Why would Jim Mathias make false statements about my record

Why would Jim Mathias make false statements about my record as a mayor 8 years ago? It's because he does not want you to focus on his record for the past 8 years as a legislator. Don't be fooled! The Pocomoke Mayor cannot vote, but a MD Legislator votes all the time!

 senatormcdermott.com

 What are we to do with a guy who says, "I have never raised taxes" when we see clearly that he has not told the truth? Don't cast your vote for a man who will do and say anything to keep that title in front of his name!

TIME MACHINE ... 1929, 1913, 2004, 1955, 1908, 1903.

"Friendliest Town On The Eastern Shore."  Our tradition runs deep.  Excerpt from a letter to the editor from a visitor to Newtown, (former name of Pocomoke City) published in the Baltimore Sun, April 28,1847.

This place (Newtown) is a pretty snug little village, containing about 500 clever and hospitable inhabitants; it has good wide streets, quite clear of that "eye sore," known mostly over the Peninsula by the name of "deep sand"; the houses, though built of frame, are generally built substantially and with some discretion and taste; there are two neat, new, and quite handsome frame churches in it; as for the merchants of the place, suffice it to state that they are very clever and hospitable.  F. Mezick, Esq., the landlord with whom I stopped, and his very obliging and jolly assistant, are richly deserving of a passing notice, for the good treatment and the extension of the many civilities to "the stranger."


(Reader-friendly viewing of news archives/historical archives material)

December, 1929
(Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune- Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.)

(Excerpts)

NINE EXCURSIONISTS KILLED AS TRAIN HITS OPEN RAIL

TWENTY-FOUR INJURED AS COACHES  PILE UP IN VIRGINIA WRECK;
  
SAILOR IS HERO AT TRAGIC SCENE

Onley, Va., Dec 2- (AP)-  Salvage crews today were removing the last of the wreckage of a train that left the rails, piling up coaches with a death toll of nine persons and an injured list of twenty-four. The train was bound from Cape Charles, Va., on the Pennsylvania railroad for New York with excursionists.  

Calm orders, "save women and children first," shouted by Kail F. Chenoweth, boatswain's mate, attached to the battleship Oklahoma, probably saved scores from death in the stampede that started in an overturned third car, said A.V. Kemp of Norfolk, a survivor.  Chenoweth was injured himself.

Doctors said that Mrs. Kemp was saved from death by the sailor, who tied a handkerchief above Mrs. Kemp's half severed wrist.

Four hundred and eighty-eight passengers were speeding up the eastern shore peninsula of Virginia early Sunday when they were thrown from their seats under a shower of flying glass as the cars struck a broken rail and careened.  Two coaches were overturned and four behind smashed into them. The locomotive and the first two cars remained on the tracks.

February, 1913
Marylander And Herald (Princess Anne)

Hospital Report

The fifteenth annual report of the Peninsula General Hospital, Salisbury, for the year ending December 31st, 1912, has been submitted to the Board of Directors in pamphlet form. 

It shows that the total expense of conducting the Hospital for the year was about $17,000.00, the largest items being superintendent and nursing, $3,000.00; provisions and servants wages, $5,857.00; light and fuel, $1,500.00; medical and surgical supplies, $942.00; improvements and ordinary repairs, $4,627.00; office expenses and insurance, $1,103.00. The largest items received by the hospital were: State of Maryland, $10,000; patients, $5,992; operating room, $820; Wicomico County, $300.00; Worcester County, $150.00.

From November 1, 1911 to November 1, 1912, six hundred and fifty-eight patients were admitted to the hospital, with 21 left over from the previous year, made 679 under treatment for the year just closed. There came from the following counties: Wicomico, 282; Worcester 123; Somerset, 68; Dorchester, 2; Talbot 2, Baltimore 3; Kent, 6; Queen Anne's, 1; Delaware sent 77, Virginia 110, Pennsylvania, 3, and North Carolina, 2.

The results of treatment in the hospital were: Cured, 517; improved, 66; unimproved, 24; died, 46. Twenty-three of the deaths occurred within 24 hours of admission to the Hospital, and 7 died of senility.

Four hundred of these patients were treated free; 150 paid in part, and 139 paid in full. It will thus be seen that two-thirds of the patients were treated free.

October, 2004
The Somerset Herald (Princess Anne)

(Excerpt)

Town Manager Resigns Abruptly

Disagreement Triggers Departure

PRINCESS ANNE-  Town Manager John O'Meara resigned abruptly last week over a fallout with elected town officials over an issue that involved operations of the department that oversees housing codes and building permits.

Brenda Benton, town finance administrator, was named temporary replacement for O'Meara, who in three years became known as "a man of vision" and initiated community projects, increased the property tax base and donated his pay raises to town workers.

June, 1955
The Denton Journal (Denton, Md.)

(Excerpts)

Lolita Hall, 17, Crowned Miss Delmarva VII At Chicken Festival

Lolita Hall, 17 year-old Ocean City brunette, was crowned Miss Delmarva VII at Onancock, Va., Monday afternoon in the beauty pageant which highlighted the opening day of the annual Delmarva Chicken Festival.

Earlier in the contest she was selected as Miss Maryland and in the finals won out over Miss Delaware, Frances Vincent, blue-eyed blonde from Laurel, and Miss Virginia, Joyce Fooks, of Exmore.

Miss Hall was crowned queen by Gov. Thomas B. Stanley of Virginia, on the open air stage at the Onancock High School bowl, with close to 2,000 persons looking on.

She won a $750 scholarship and a trophy.

As soon as the crowning was over, Miss Hall had to rush back to Ocean City to attend her high school graduation exercises.

Bill Jaegger of station WJWL in Georgetown was master of ceremonies. At the start of the pageant, Mrs. Jack Pigman, of Berlin, the former Nancy McGee, who was the first Miss Delmarva, and now married, with three children, gave a short talk. 

After the judging was over the girls selected Miss Personality, with Miss Pat Kilmon of Atlantic, Va., winner.

Footnote: In later years Nancy Pigman (the Mrs. Jack Pigman mentioned above) presented the weather on WBOC-TV's "Weather Fashions" sponsored by Benjamin's apparel store in Salisbury.

August, 1908
Peninsula Enterprise (Accomac Court House)

I.H. Merrill Company clothiers in Pocomoke City is having an August sale.. "Every Garment In The Store Is Included."  

Click address below to see the big newspaper ad (note + sign at upper left above the ad to enlarge the print). 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94060041/1908-08-01/ed-1/seq-1/#words=[u'ACCOMAC',%20u'Accomac']&date1=1836&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=eng&sequence=1&lccn=sn94060041&proxdistance=5&rows=50&ortext=Accomac&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=22


(A visitor to Chincoteague writes his observations)

August, 1903
The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Va.)

PART 3 (continued from last week)

As evidence of the prosperity of Chincoteague, or possibly another form of it, may be found in the number of children one sees on the street. Where two or three men and women are gathered together, there are sure to be found twice as many boys and girls. At the pony penning on Chincotague there were three hundred people at the least, and at least half the number were boys from five years to fifteen. Early marriages are the rule. There is living here now a young woman who was a grandmother at thirty-one years of age. She was a mother at thirteen. Her daughter became a mother at fourteen. The population of Chincotague was only 1,100 ln 1870, and is now over 3,000.

The people of Chincotague appear to be more generally church members then are the inhabitants of other towns. But there are five saloons here, and I did not see evidences of threatened insolvency for any of them. While drinking is more or less general, drunkeness is extremely rare. The sergeant, or constable, told me last night he had not made an arrest in a year.

The majority of the church people are probably Baptists, or have leanings in that direction. This sect has a beautiful church and parsonage on the island. There are also Protestant Methodist and Methodist Episcopal churches and parsonages.

There are three public schools in Chincoteague, including the grade school. But the schools only continue five months and a half, and I was informed that the average number of pupils to a room in the primary grade was from 75 to 110. Better school facilities are badly needed.

But Chincoteague is not an incorporated town. A few years ago Mr. S. Wilkens Matthews, member of the House from Accomac, in response to a petition signed by many of the leading men of the island, went to work and had the Legislature pass an act incorporating the island into a town. But so many of the people were opposed to the measure that a vote was taken on  it, and the charter was rejected. The act was repealed.

There are no street lights. There are no water mains.  Insurance rates run from five to six per cent.  On nearly every house, stores and dwellings, one sees over the door a tin placard bearing the name of the company in which the building is insured.  And some day there are going to be numerous policies to pay unless Chincoteague gets a charter and a water system. There is only one brick building on the island.

(More from this article next Sunday.)


Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!


"Somewhere Over The
Rainbow Bluebirds
fly.."

Flying On For JMMB.
Her Pocomoke Public
Eye postings (April,
2008 to June, 2014)
kept us informed.

Every Sunday On The Pocomoke Public Eye..

<1800<1850<Time<1900<1950<Machine<2000<<

It's reader-friendly viewing of newspaper archive and historical archive material, primarily of local interest. 

This week we share items from 1929, 1913, 2004, 1955, 1908, and 1903.

Check back tomorrow, 11/2, right here!

Christmas is coming to Pocomoke

Downtown Pocomoke City is a Winter Wonderland

            It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Downtown Pocomoke City. The town twinkles at night with holiday lights and decorations. Business owners are getting into the holiday spirit by decorating their stores while students from Pocomoke High School also participated by painting storefront windows with beautiful winter themed murals.

            The 42^nd Annual Pocomoke Christmas Parade will kick off the holiday season on Monday, December 1^st at 7:00pm. The parade will feature many beautifully decorated floats, high school bands, marching units, fire companies, and beauty queens. Santa Claus will also make his appearance at the end of the parade.

            On Friday, December 5^th the downtown will host the fourth annual Mayor’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Evening from 5:30pm to 8:30pm in the mini park and municipal parking lot on Clarke Avenue across from City Hall in downtown Pocomoke City.

            This event will feature many family-friendly activities including horse-drawn carriage rides, a Santa Claus house, and Christmas ornament and cookie decorating for the children. The town will light a large bonfire for toasting s’mores. Community vendors will serve free refreshments including hot chocolate, cider, peppermint sticks, hotdogs and more. There will also be wine tasting from Layton’s Chance Winery.

            Live entertainment will be provided all night beginning with music by the Pocomoke Elementary School Choir. At 6:00pm, Mayor Bruce Morrison will light the town’s Christmas Tree while Frank Henry performs ‘The Spirit of Christmas”. Additional entertainment includes a performance by the Dance Loft, The Pocomoke Gold Choir, Pocomoke High School Choir, and music by the very talented Brittany Lewis, Stephanie Blevins and more.

            This event serves as a fundraiser to support local churches and non-profit organizations. Admission is free, but some vendors will request small donations to support their organizations. Guests are encouraged to bring a canned good or nonperishable item to support the Samaritan Shelter’s Food Drive.

            A holiday wreath decorating contest and silent auction will be held to benefit the Costen House Museum. The public can bid on the wreaths decorated by Pocomoke area businesses and residents.

            There will also be a homemade chili cook-off which will start at 6:30pm and end at 7:30pm. Local residents and businesses will provide samples of their homemade chili to be voted upon by the public. Proceeds will benefit the Sturgis One Room School.

            Trackside Modules HO Modular Railroading Club will display their holiday train exhibit at 145 Market Street located next to Enchanted Florist in Downtown Pocomoke on the weekends of Saturday, December 13^th-14^th and December 20^th-21^st from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Admission is free, but small donations are appreciated.

            The Santa House in downtown Pocomoke City will also be open on Saturday, December 13^th and 20^th from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Bring your camera to take your children’s picture with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

            For more information or a full calendar of events please visit downtownpocomoke.com or call City Hall at 410-957-1333.

Pocomoke Solar Project

Pocomoke City’s 2.1 Megawatt Solar Project to be Largest Municipally-Owned in Maryland

Standard Solar helps city to take the solar lead in Worcester County

ROCKVILLE, MD—October 30, 2014 — Upon its completion in December, a 2.1 Megawatt (MW) solar array in Pocomoke City, MD will be the largest municipally-owned system in the state. Standard Solar, Inc., a leader in the full-service development, construction, integration, financing and installation of solar electric systems, developed and is installing the ground mount solar system at the City’s wastewater treatment facility. ClicktoTweet

The 6,150 panel array, which is expected to produce 2.9 million kilowatt-hours of power per year, will offset 2,067 metric tons of carbon dioxide which is equal to the CO₂ emissions from the electricity use of 284 average American homes for one year or the annual carbon offset of a 1,639 acre forest.

“Pocomoke City calls itself ‘The Friendliest Town on the Eastern Shore’ and now thanks to the foresight of City officials and this innovative solar project, it is well on its way to being known as the greenest town on the Eastern Shore,” said Tony Clifford, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Solar. “With no financial outlay required by the City, sizeable savings in electricity costs and positively contributing to its citizen’s environmental future, more and more municipalities are seeing the short- and long-term advantages of going solar.” 

Total cost savings are estimated to be more than $52,000 annually. Electricity produced by the system is expected to reduce the City’s electricity bills by more than $37,000 a year. Additionally, several local nonprofit organizations will participate in the City’s network to reduce their bills by nearly $15,000 annually, including the Delmarva Discovery Center, MARVA Theater, Samaritan Shelter and the Worcester County Developmental Center.

“Pocomoke City is proud to be in the forefront of Maryland municipalities when it comes to solar energy,” said Bruce Morrison, Mayor of Pocomoke City. “Our new solar system will not only help the town economically, but it also speaks to our commitment to environmental sustainability and will serve as an educational opportunity for all of us to learn about the importance of renewable energy.”

State Senator Jim Mathias, who represents Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset Counties, noted “As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I work tirelessly with my colleagues and business leaders to help grow industries like solar energy. I am excited to see solar come to Pocomoke City, and am eager to see our citizens continue to benefit from the innovative approach of these and other alternate energy sources. Thank you to the great partners at Standard Solar, and I look forward to continuing to work with them; together we make investments and create jobs and opportunities in Pocomoke City.” 

“The completion of this large solar project in Pocomoke City will make the southern Eastern Shore one of the leading solar areas in the state,” said State Delegate Norman Conway, who represents Worcester and Wicomico Counties. “These solar systems are helping our regional economy by allowing our local governments, educational institutions, businesses and homeowners to generate substantial savings on their electricity bills.”

The project was financed through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement by SunEdison, who will own the array.

Pocomoke City is home to approximately 5,000 residents and is located on the banks of the Pocomoke River, one of the top scenic rivers in America. 

About Standard Solar

Standard Solar, Inc. is a leader in the full-service development, construction, integration, financing and installation of solar electric systems. Dedicated to making Distributed Generation (“DG”) solar solutions more accessible, the company is leading the way to energy independence. The company is committed to offering responsible and energy cost-saving solar solutions that conform to the highest standards. Since 2004, Standard Solar has been developing solar projects to creatively solve the energy needs of commercial, industrial, educational, government, utility and other clients. The company’s Standard Energy Solutions (SES) division provides home energy solutions including home solar, energy efficiency and energy management services. Named one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America for four consecutive years by Inc. Magazine, Standard Solar operates nationally and is headquartered in Rockville, MD. For more information, please visitwww.standardsolar.com.

PR Contact

Leah Wilkinson

WilkinsonShein for Standard Solar

703-907-0010

leah@wilkinsonshein.com

Pocomoke Christmas Parade Press Release

POCOMOKE CITY CHRISTMAS PARADE ASSOCIATION

P.O. Box 807

Pocomoke City, Maryland 21851

(410) 957-0802

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Mike Shannon (410) 726-5777

POCOMOKE PREPARES FOR ANNUAL PARADE

            On Monday night, December 1, 2014, Pocomoke City will be transformed into a “Winter Wonderland” as the town plays host to one of Delmarva’s largest nighttime Christmas parades.

            Always held on the first Monday night after Thanksgiving, the Pocomoke parade has become an Eastern Shore tradition and will attract over 100 units from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia along with thousands of spectators.

We have our web site up and running. This is where you will find the applications and rules for this year’s event. If you are interested in participating this year you should go to pocomokechristmasparade.com to register. If you have any questions you can contact Mike Shannon at 410-726-5777 and leave a message with your name, address and telephone number and type of entry.

            Each year the parade features marching bands representing high and middle schools from seven counties in three states.  Also featured will be beautifully decorated and lighted floats entered by schools, civic organizations, churches, and commercial enterprises.

            Clowns, marching units, fire departments, equestrian units, and of course Santa Claus will round out the two-hour event, slated to kick-off at 7:00 p.m. sharp.  The route will take the parade north on Market Street beginning at 14^th Street and ending at the Pocomoke River.

           

            Professional judges, including members of the National Judges Association (NJA), will score entries in many different categories.  Awards will be awarded immediately following the event to the top entries in each category.

A special thanks to the community of Pocomoke City and surrounding areas for the recent support given to us to continue this great tradition that has been a part of the town of over 40 years. 

In the event of inclement weather, the parade will be postponed until Tuesday, December 2, at 7:00 p.m.

Keep your appointment to vote!!!

Dear Pokomoke,
Don't forget the polls are open from 10am - 8pm today and tomorrow! And tomorrow is the last day you can early vote!

Click here to check your polling place!

AND...be sure to check your ballot for errors before you hit "cast your ballot" at the polls...I'm sure you've heard it all over the news -- there have been several faulty machines changing people's ballots this year!
Once you've voted:

• Tell friends that you voted; it will motivate them to get involved and do the same!
• Email friends and family to remind them that early voting has started and to vote HOGAN FOR GOVERNOR!
• Download our Facebook Badges and let everyone know that you voted for HOGAN!

We know that we have the momentum. But your vote, and getting your friends to vote, is critical to our GET OUT THE VOTE effort and it's the most important thing you’ll do this whole campaign.
Thank you for Your Support,

Larry Hogan
-=-=-
Hogan for Governor · 2635 Riva Rd, Suite 100, Annapolis, MD 21401, United States
This email was sent to pcitypubliceye@gmail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.

Authority: Hogan-Rutherford Committee to Change Maryland,
John C. Wobensmith, Treasurer.

TIME MACHINE ... This Sunday's Preview.

1929.. Major train derailment at Onley claims nine lives; 1913.. Peninsula General Hospital's total annual expenses are $17,000; 2004.. A Princess Anne town official resigns abrubtly; 1955.. Worcester County contestant is new Miss Delmarva; 1908.. View the big newspaper ad by a Pocomoke City store; 1903.. More of the first-hand observations of a visitor to Chincoteague.

Although you may not find all of these items in a history book, they are a part of our local history and you can read more about it this Sunday right here at The Pocomoke Public Eye!  

Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about?  It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!

Christmas Pocomoke Press Release

Breakfast in Bed

Hat Tip; Kacky

Supply rocket headed to space station explodes

ATLANTIC, Va. (AP) - An unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff Tuesday evening, with debris falling in flames over the launch site in Virginia. No injuries were reported following the first catastrophic launch in NASA's commercial spaceflight effort.

The accident was sure to draw criticism over the space agency's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in this post-shuttle era. NASA is paying billions of dollars to Orbital Sciences and the 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. This was the fourth flight by Orbital Sciences to the orbiting lab.

The Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket blew up over the beachside launch complex at Wallops Island. The company said everyone at the site had been accounted for, and the damage appeared to be limited to the facilities. And nothing on the lost flight was urgently needed by the six people living on the 260-mile-high space station, officials said.

Flames could be seen shooting into the sky as the sun set.
Orbital Sciences' executive vice president Frank Culbertson said things began to go wrong 10 to 12 seconds into the flight and it was all over in 20 seconds when what was left of the rocket came crashing down. He said he believes the range-safety staff sent a destruct signal before it hit the ground.

Bill Wrobel, director of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, said crews were letting the fires burn out late Tuesday and set up a perimeter to contain them in the darkness.

This was the second launch attempt for the mission. Monday evening's try was thwarted by a stray sailboat in the rocket's danger zone. The restrictions are in case of just such an accident that occurred Tuesday.

Culbertson said the top priority will be repairing the launch pad "as quickly and safely as possible."

He said he could not guess how long it will take to determine the cause of the accident and to make repairs. Culbertson said the company carried insurance on the mission, which he valued at more than $200 million, not counting repair costs.

He stressed that it was too soon to know whether the Russian-built engines, modified for the Antares and extensively tested, were to blame.

"We will understand what happened - hopefully soon - and we'll get things back on track," Culbertson assured his devastated team. "We've all seen this happen in our business before, and we've all seen the teams recover from this, and we will do the same."

The Wallops facility is small compared to NASA's major centers like those in Florida, Texas and California, but vaulted into the public spotlight in September 2013 with a NASA moonshot and the first Cygnus launch to the space station.

Michelle Murphy, an innkeeper at the Garden and Sea Inn, New Church, Virginia, where launches are visible across a bay about 16 miles away, witnessed the explosion.

"It was scary. Everything rattled," she said. "There were two explosions. The first one we were ready for. The second one we weren't. It shook the inn, like an earthquake."

Culbertson advised people not to touch any potentially hazardous rocket or spacecraft debris that came down on their property or might wash ashore.

Immediately after the explosion, the launch team was ordered to maintain all computer data for the ensuing investigation. Culbertson advised his staff not to talk to news reporters and to refrain from speculating among themselves.

"Definitely do not talk outside of our family," said Culbertson, a former astronaut who once served on the space station.

This newest Cygnus cargo ship - named for the swan constellation - had held 5,000 pounds of space station experiments and equipment for NASA, as well as prepackaged meals and eagerly awaited crab cakes, freeze-dried for safe eating. It had been due to arrive at the orbiting lab Sunday.

By coincidence, the Russian Space Agency was proceeding with its own supply run on Wednesday, planned well before the U.S. mishap. And SpaceX is scheduled to launch another Dragon supply ship from Cape Canaveral in December; some items may be changed out to replace what was lost on the Cygnus.


  (Below VVV is a comment from Twitter)
_______________________________________________________
  Chris Hadfield        ✔ @Cmdr_Hadfield Follow

Water, oxygen & food are critical consumables. Should have lots for now. Next resupply launch is Russian, tomorrow, & @SpaceX in December.

8:00 PM - 28 Oct 2014

_______________________________________________________

 

 

NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters that the station and its crew have plenty of supplies on board - about five months' worth - even without the upcoming launches.

Among the science instruments that were lost: a meteor tracker and 32 mini research satellites, along with numerous experiments compiled by schoolchildren. Suffredini promised the experimenters would get a chance to refly their work.

The two Americans, three Russians and one German aboard the space station were watching a live video feed from Mission Control and saw the whole thing unfold before their eyes.

Until Tuesday, all of the supply missions by the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and California-based SpaceX had been near-flawless.

President Barack Obama has long championed this commercial space effort, well before NASA's space shuttles were retired in 2011. He's urged that NASA focus its human spaceflight effort less on nearby orbit and more on destinations like asteroids and Mars. He was informed of the accident while on a campaign trip in Wisconsin.

SpaceX's billionaire founder and chief officer Elon Musk - whose company is the face, in many ways, of the commercial effort - said he was sorry to learn about the failure. "Hope they recover soon," he said in a tweet.

Support poured in from elsewhere in the space community late Tuesday night.

"Very sorry to see the Antares rocket launch failure," said Chris Hadfield, a former Canadian astronaut who served as space station commander last year. "Spaceflight is hard. Very glad that no one was hurt."

John Logdson, former space policy director at George Washington University, said it was unlikely to be a major setback to NASA's commercial space plans. But he noted it could derail Orbital Sciences for a while given the company has just one launch pad and the accident occurred right above it.

The explosion hit Orbital Science's stock, which fell more than 15 percent in after-hours trading.


 

Source; AOLNEWS.COM