An unmanned Antares rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded seconds after liftoff from a NASA launch pad in Virginia.

No one was injured on the ground after debris fell in flames over the launch site Tuesday evening.

The explosion was captured on NASA’s video stream, as well as dozens of amateur videos that were quickly shared on YouTube and social media.

The Antares rocket belongs to Orbital Sciences Corp., a private company contracted by NASA to deliver supplies to the ISS.

“Something went wrong and we will find out what that is,” Frank Culbertson, executive vice-president at Orbital Sciences, told a news conference Tuesday night.

He said his company has “no early indications of exactly what might have failed,” but will conduct a thorough investigation, along with NASA.

Inside the Antares rocket was the Cygnus spacecraft, carrying 5,000 pounds of supplies for the six astronauts currently living on the space station.

The cargo ship was loaded with science experiments -- some of them developed by students – and hardware, spacewalk equipment and food.

Bill Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, told reporters Tuesday that none of the cargo was “absolutely critical” to the ISS crew, which has plenty of food and water and is in no danger.

In an earlier tweet, NASA said that the Orbital Sciences team “wasn’t tracking any issues” before the launch.

NASA is paying the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX to send supplies to the space station. Until Tuesday, all of the previous Orbital Sciences and SpaceX missions had been successful.

Culbertson said the investigative team will begin collecting and cataloguing scattered rocket debris at daybreak Wednesday. He urged people who find debris on their property or elsewhere not to touch it, since the rocket contained hazardous materials.

He said space launches are a “risky business,” and everyone at Orbital Sciences takes their jobs “very seriously.”

Once the cause of Tuesday’s disaster is determined, the company’s space delivery missions will resume, he said.

“We will fly again as soon as we can safely, with confidence.”

With files from The Associated Press