Tag: Antares
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RD-181 engines prepared for shipment to U.S.
File photo of an Antares rocket on the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky The first pair of RD-181 rocket engines set to launch on Orbital ATK’s redesigned Antares rocket are in the final stages of acceptance testing in Russia ahead of their export to the United States in early July, officials…
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NASA orders missions to resupply space station in 2017
A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station in September 2014. Credit: NASA NASA has ordered four additional launches to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in 2017 — three from SpaceX and one from Orbital ATK — to cover the research lab’s logistics needs until a new set of resupply contracts take…
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Orbital Sciences signs contract for new Antares engines
File photo of an Antares rocket rolling out to the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia. The rocket’s two AJ26 engines will be replaced by RD-181 engines. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Orbital Sciences Corp. and Energia have signed a contract worth approximately $1 billion for up to 60 Russian-made RD-181 rocket engines to power the redesigned…
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2014’s top stories in spaceflight
The year ended with a deluge of big news, reminding us of the risks of spaceflight and the thin margins between success and failure on the final frontier. 2014 was also a year of breakthroughs in the exploration of the solar system and the future of human spaceflight. The Spaceflight Now editorial team has ranked…
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Orbital picks Atlas 5 to launch next space station cargo run
File photo of an Atlas 5 launch in the “401” configuration, the same version that launch Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus supply ship in late 2015. Credit: ULA Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Tuesday it selected United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to launch a Cygnus space station resupply mission in late 2015 while the company redesigns its…
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Return to Wallops: New Antares set for late 2015 hot fire
Repairs to the Antares launch facility at Wallops Flight Facility are expected to be completed within 12 months, in time for the return of the Orbital rocket – in her upgraded propulsion configuration – for a hot fire test at the end of 2015. The dramatic failure of the CRS-3/OrB-3 Antares launch resulted in damage…
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Orbital looking for Cygnus launch slots next year
File photo of an Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship approaching the International Space Station. Credit: NASA Facing pressure to find a ride into space for its commercial Cygnus cargo craft in the wake of a catastrophic rocket failure, Orbital Sciences Corp. says it has found openings in the mission manifests of the world’s busiest launch…
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ATK expand on its domestic alternative to Atlas V’s RD-180
ATK has provided additional details about its domestic alternative to the Russian-built RD-180 engine currently in use on the venerable Atlas V rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA). While ULA has aligned with Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, ATK proposal of a solid-fueled first stage – as a reliable, cost-effective, and commercial alternative to the RD-180…
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Engine turbopump eyed in Antares launch failure
File photo of an AJ26 engine being prepared for ground testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA With investigators zeroing in on a decades-old rocket engine as the cause of a catastrophic launch mishap last week, Orbital Sciences officials said Wednesday the company plans to use other launchers to send cargo to…
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Post mortem for CRS-3 Antares notes turbopump failure
Engineers are methodically working through stacks of data related to last week’s failure of the CRS-3/OrB-3 Antares launch vehicle. Orbital managers have noted that early data points to the failure of a turbopump on one of Antares’ AJ-26 engines as the leading reason the rocket failed just seconds after launch. The company are now working towards…