Orbital explosion probe said to find debris in engine: sources, Reuters “Last October’s explosion of Orbital ATK Inc’s Antares rocket may have been triggered when debris inadvertently left in a fuel tank traveled into the booster’s main engine, two people familiar with investigations into the accident told Reuters. The sources said the preliminary findings suggest that a simple assembly mistake by Orbital ATK could have caused the explosion, which destroyed […]
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 […]
ATK and Orbital Continue to Support Plans for Merger “Following this announcement on October 28, 2014, a failure occurred during Orbital’s Antares launch. Since the incident, the companies have conducted a thorough review and analysis of the launch failure and Orbital’s proposed recovery plan and long-term competitive position. Following this review, ATK’s board of directors continues to support the strategic merits of the transaction and recommends that ATK stockholders vote […]
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, […]
Rockets blow up; we move on, Leroy Chiao, CNN “Without a doubt, critics will arise and question why we are entrusting cargo deliveries and future crew exchanges to commercial companies. The answer is simple: It is the logical evolution of technology and commercialization, following the same path as the development of the airplane and commercial air transportation.” Alliant Tech Evaluating Merger Plans After Orbital Rocket Explosion, WS Journal “Alliant Techsystems […]
@OrbitalSciences When is the Antares launch? Please issue an update on the launch date. — NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) July 2, 2014 Keith’s note: I have seen some lazy PAO staff but this one takes the cake. Are there any pros at Wallops PAO? How about picking up a telephone and calling Orbital? Keith’s update: Earlier today I sent the original response out via @ISEE3 Reboot – obviously by mistake since […]
Orbital’s Second Cygnus ISS Resupply Flight Postponed – NET July 1 “The new launch schedule reflects the timing of the investigation into the cause of an AJ26 engine failure that occurred in late May at NASA’s Stennis Space Center during customary acceptance testing. All other elements of the Orb-2 mission are prepared to move forward, including the Cygnus spacecraft, which is fueled and, except for late-load cargo, is packed with […]
Orbital to Proceed With Antares Launch Tomorrow “Following a comprehensive review of data related to the radiation environment in space, further reviews and modeling of the rocket’s avionics systems, and the forecast for favorable terrestrial weather conditions at the Wallops Island launch facility, the Antares launch team has decided to proceed forward with a launch attempt of the Orbital-1 CRS mission to the International Space Station tomorrow, January 9.” Orb-1 […]
Antares launch update: No Earlier Than January 8 “Orbital, in consultation with NASA, has decided to reschedule the Antares CRS Orb-1 Space Station Resupply Mission launch for no earlier than Wednesday, January 8, 2014. The new target date was set due to the extreme cold temperatures that are forecasted for early next week, coupled with likely precipitation events predicted for Sunday night and Monday morning. While we are preserving the […]
