The U.S. failed to send its unmanned rocket full of equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday evening as it blew up during its launch process. However, the Russian Space Agency was able to successfully send its own vessel to the ISS, which arrived six hours later.

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The Virginia-based private company, Orbital Sciences, attempted to launch its Antares Rocket, which was filled with two and half tons of space station equipment, prepackaged meals, as well as experiments to be conducted for NASA, according to reports.

Astronauts on the ISS - two Americans, three Russians and one German - were watching live video from Mission Control. The explosion occurred within 20 seconds of its launch and sent hazardous wreckage all around the launch site in Virginia.

The Russian Space Agency has reportedly already planned to launch its vessel specifically for the chance that the U.S. attempt might fail. Their rocket was carrying over 6,000 pounds of food as it launched successfully and arrived to the ISS smoothly six hours later.

Many are questioning whether NASA will be able to rely on U.S. private companies, but according to the Associated Press, all missions done by Virginia's Orbital Sciences and California's SpaceX have been "near flawless" until the accident on Tuesday.

Orbital Sciences will be conducting an ongoing investigation to determine exactly what caused the malfunction and explosion. The investigation is detrimental to their future, especially considering NASA is expecting to rely on these private companies when sending U.S. astronauts in 2017.

"We will not fly until we understand the root cause," Orbital Sciences' executive vice president Frank Culbertson said.

It is unknown exactly how long it will take to fix the rocket and repair the launch pad, but Culbertson mentioned it'll take at least a few weeks just to assess all the damage first. 

TagsNASA, International Space Station, ISS, Russian Space Agency, orbital sciences, SpaceX, antares rocket, Explosion, astronaut