Tag: OSC

Mid-Week Roundup: SpaceX Confirms Landing Attempt, OSC Can’t Kick Its Russian Habit and More

Mid-Week Roundup: SpaceX Confirms Landing Attempt, OSC Can’t Kick Its Russian Habit and More

SpaceX has finally confirmed that it will indeed be attempting to land the Falcon 9 first stage on its autonomous drone ship following Friday’s CRS-5 launch to the International Space Station.  The complete description is posted on their website’s update page here. America’s Russian engine addiction continues unabated. Orbital Sciences has selected the RD-181 derivative […]

NASA’s Sky High Pegasus Contract Shows SmallSat Launcher Opportunity

NASA’s Sky High Pegasus Contract Shows SmallSat Launcher Opportunity

$16.5 Million Dollars Ago.  OSC Pegasus Launches IRIS. Image Credit : NASA In case there was any doubt there is still a long, long way to go in reducing launch prices across the spectrum, consider this NASA press release from November 20th. CONTRACT RELEASE C14-047 NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Ionospheric Connection Explorer NASA […]

Antares Accident Update: SpaceX Falcon 9, ULA Atlas V to the Rescue?

Antares Accident Update: SpaceX Falcon 9, ULA Atlas V to the Rescue?

Will Cygnus be on the Manifest?  Image Credit SpaceX One week after the loss of an Antares launch vehicle carrying a Cygnus cargo vessel bound for the International Space Station, Orbital Sciences Corporation held a conference call with investors to discuss what it has learned about the accident thus far, and its plans for going […]

Policy Implications of the Antares Failure

Policy Implications of the Antares Failure

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, […]

On The Path To a Modular Exploration Architecture

On The Path To a Modular Exploration Architecture

Cygnus Approach Orion Image Credit: OSC One of the most common arguments put forward in support of NASA’s current program of exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft is that alternative modular missions launched by smaller boosters are inherently too complicated. The ISS, which required dozens of Shuttle and Russian launches to complete, […]

Orbital Launch to ISS Postponed to Sunday

Orbital Launch to ISS Postponed to Sunday

Image Credit: OSC The summer season of launch delays is still in full effect. From NASA: Orbital Sciences Corp. has postponed the launch of its Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station until 12:52 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 13, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. […]

Update: Orbital Prepares For Station Launch on Saturday

Update: Orbital Prepares For Station Launch on Saturday

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 […]

RL-10 Engines Will Power Stratolaunch into Orbit

RL-10 Engines Will Power Stratolaunch into Orbit

Several interesting developments suggest the Stratolaunch project is beginning to gain serious traction, marking a new entry into the intermediate class of a launch vehicles left vacant since ULA discontinued production of the Delta II, and SpaceX walked away from the Falcon 5, and its own preliminary involvement in the Paul Allen project. GenCorp, the […]

Orbital Sciences and ATK to Merge

Orbital Sciences and ATK to Merge

The company which likes to pride itself on being the original Newspace company, (and often refuses to refer to SpaceX by name) Orbital Sciences, announced today that it is engaging in a  “merger of equals” with Alliant Techsystems,  or ATK, the defense, munitions and space company which is perhaps best known as the major contractor […]

Orbital Sciences Suggests a New Antares for Stratolaunch

Orbital Sciences Suggests a New Antares for Stratolaunch

Stratolaunch has been pretty quiet as of late, but an Orbital Sciences conference call reported in Space News sheds some new light on the booster the behemoth twin fuselage aircraft may be lofting. Originally reported as likely to be a solid cored booster comprised of components provided by ATK,  based on comments by CEO David […]

π