Two NASA reports released late this week bring to mind the old adage “we don’t know what we don’t know.” The first concerns the explosion of an Orbital Sciences, (now Orbital ATK ) Antares booster carrying a Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station on October 28th 2014. One year later, a NASA Independent […]
Tuesday’s loss of the Orbital Sciences Antares booster carrying a Cygnus cargo vessel to the International Space Station, a failure of space hardware, is also bringing more attention to matters of space policy, where the news is both good and bad. To begin with, the explosion of the Antares rocket only six seconds into flight, […]
Update: Thunderstorms on Wednesday prevented the roll-out of the Antares booster. As a result, the launch has been delayed to 1:14 pm EDT on Saturday, July 12. Image Credit: OSC Orbital Sciences Corporation is preparing for its next Commercial Resupply Services launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the Antares booster carrying the Cygnus […]
With 1,806 launches to its credit, the most recent a military satellite launched from Plesetsk on June 7th, the Russian Soyuz remains in a class all by itself. In all likelihood it will remain that way. Anatoly Zak reports on Russianspaceweb.com today that engineers at Tsskb Progress in Samara, which manufactures the Soyuz booster, are […]
There are any number of interesting stories surrounding today’s scheduled launch of Orbital Science Corporation’s Antares rocket, not the least of which is the opportunity for a bit of redemption for Orbital Sciences, for first stage manufacturer Yuzhmash of the Ukraine, and perhaps most of all, the pair of Soviet built NK-33 main engines, now updated and rebranded as the Aerojet […]
Orbital Sciences conducted a successful hotfire test of its Antares first stage earlier this evening at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The test took place using a structural test article, and was intended to fully verify ground, fueling and countdown and ignition procedures for the brand new launch pad. According to OSC, an initial review indicates the 29 second test went […]
Source: Washington Post, Spaceflightnow Orbital Sciences Corporation is expected to attempt another hotfire test of the Antares rocket first stage this evening. The test, which will not be broadcast live, should run for 29 seconds, and will come after a full fuel loading and countdown, will allow the company to verify the interaction with ground systems at the Mid-Atlantic […]
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