Orbital ATK Successfully Launches the Antares Rocket on its Return to Flight (with video), SpaceRef “In a successful return to flight, Orbital ATK launched the upgraded Antares rocket with the Cygnus spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch scheduled for 7:40 pm EDT (2340 GMT) was delayed briefly due to a minor engine anomaly. Mission launch control cleared the rocket to launch which it did […]

Orbital ATK Updates Progress on International Space Station Cargo Delivery Program for NASA, Orbital ATK “Orbital ATK is on track to launch its next CRS mission late this year and is moving forward with integration of a new first stage propulsion system into the Antares launch vehicle in preparation for multiple CRS missions in 2016.” “Three main CRS program efforts are simultaneously underway, including preparing the enhanced Cygnus spacecraft for […]

Orbital, GenCorp spar over cause of October rocket crash, Reuters “Orbital ATK Inc and engine maker GenCorp Inc on Tuesday offered competing explanations for what caused the Oct. 28 explosion of Orbital’s Antares rocket, bound for the International Space Station. Ronald Grabe, Orbital’s executive vice president and president of its flight systems group, told the annual Space Symposium conference that an investigation led by his company had concluded the explosion […]

Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines posed risks, LA Times “Years before an unmanned rocket erupted in a fireball in October, NASA officials knew the metal in its 50-year-old Soviet-made engines could crack, causing fuel to leak and ignite, government documents show. As early as 2008, a NASA committee warned about the “substantial” risk of using the decades-old engines, and a fire during a 2011 engine test in Mississippi […]

State assessing damage, considering future of commercial spaceport, WDBJ7 “Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation says it could take a year and up to $20 million to repair the commercial spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, after a mishap damaged the launchpad last month. Aubrey Layne says he expects the flights to resume, but with additional protections for Virginia taxpayers. “We do need to have our launch partner and the federal government take […]

Past Transit Tragedies Point to a Way Forward for Virgin Galactic, Smithsonian “Private spaceflight hit a large bump in the road to orbit last week, with Orbital Sciences’ rocket explosion followed days later by Virgin Galactic’s fatal spaceplane crash. But if early aviation and aerospace efforts can teach us anything, it’s that the key to surviving such tragedies is transparency and learning from any mistakes. And in a counterintuitive twist, […]

Orbital to Consolidate Cygnus Launch Manifest and Outsource at Least One Launch, SpaceRef Business “Moving quickly to inform its International Space Station (ISS) resupply contract partner NASA, Orbital Sciences Corporation today announced that not only would it complete its resupply contract by the end of 2016, it would consolidate its launch manifest and do it with four launches instead of five.” Orbital Announces Go-Forward Plan for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services […]

Fine unlikely for boat that delayed Antares launch, Delmarvanow.com “The sailboat was about 40 miles out to sea, NASA Wallops Flight Facility Director Bill Wrobel said. It was in the first of two avoidance areas for the launch — the one set for the first rocket stage. The area extends some 50 nautical miles out from shore in a wedge shape, some 37 nautical miles wide near the shore and […]

40-Year-Old Russian Engine at Heart of Rocket Investigation “The thing to keep in mind in all this is that we don’t know what caused the mishap,” Cowing cautions. “We all saw the explosion at the bottom of the rocket, but that doesn’t mean anything. These investigations take time, and sometimes we don’t even end up with all the answers.” Did Soviet-era engines doom Antares?, Mad Science Innovation “Not that older […]

NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station aboard Orbital Sciences Resupply Mission “A multitude of NASA research investigations, crew provisions, hardware and science experiments from across the country is headed to the International Space Station aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus spacecraft. The cargo craft launched aboard Orbital’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 12:52 p.m. EDT Sunday. “ Antares Launched (video)