{"id":16134,"date":"2015-08-12T22:21:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T14:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/second-launch-deal-inked-between-atlas-5-rocket-and-cygnus-freighter\/"},"modified":"2015-08-12T22:21:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T14:21:21","slug":"second-launch-deal-inked-between-atlas-5-rocket-and-cygnus-freighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/second-launch-deal-inked-between-atlas-5-rocket-and-cygnus-freighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Second launch deal inked between Atlas 5 rocket and Cygnus freighter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"File
File photo of Atlas 5 launch. Credit: ULA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CAPE CANAVERAL \u2014 Orbital ATK has ordered another Atlas 5 rocket to launch a second commercial Cygnus cargo craft for the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

The mission is in addition to the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 already scheduled for Dec. 3 from Cape Canaveral to launch a Cygnus freighter with nearly four tons of supplies to the station. <\/p>\n

The new launch, which could come as early as March, was booked on the powerful Atlas 5 \u201cin order to provide NASA with the maximum cargo load Cygnus can carry,\u201d Orbital ATK said in a press release. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur reliable Atlas 5 offers the performance needed for our customer\u2019s Cygnus spacecraft to carry the maximum cargo load to service the space station \u2013 3,500 kg of pressurized cargo,\u201d said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK bought these rides on Atlas in the wake of last October\u2019s dramatic explosion of its own Antares rocket with the third operational Cygnus resupply mission to the station.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK is in the process of changing the main propulsion system on the Antares away from Soviet-era NK-33 engines left over from the failed moon program to modern Russian RD-181 powerplants. <\/p>\n

Antares is expected to resume launches of Cygnus craft next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team and our partners are devoting maximum efforts to ensuring the success of NASA\u2019s ISS commercial cargo program,\u201d said David W. Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Orbital ATK. \u201cWe are committed to meeting all CRS mission requirements, and we are prepared to continue to supply the Space Station.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dec. 3 Atlas will launch the fourth operational Cygnus loaded with cargo to be used by the station\u2019s resident crews. The craft will reach the station for berthing by the outpost\u2019s robotic arm on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n

The 30-minute launch window on Dec. 3 opens at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the OA-4 mission, launching aboard the more powerful Atlas 5 allows us to better support NASA\u2019s ISS cargo needs with a full load of about 3,500 kg of pressurized cargo, consisting of essential supplies, equipment and science experiments,\u201d said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK\u2019s Space Systems Group.<\/p>\n

The first piece of that Cygnus arrived Monday night at Kennedy Space Center\u2019s sprawling Space Station Processing Facility where modules, the trusses and payloads were readied for launch during the space shuttle program. <\/p>\n

\"Artist\u2019s
Artist\u2019s concept of an enhanced Cygnus approaching the International Space Station. Credit: Orbital ATK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Delivered was the Italian-built pressurized cargo hold of Cygnus produced by Thales Alenia Space. The Orbital ATK-made service module section of the craft, with the propulsion and power systems, is expected in October. <\/p>\n

It will mark the first flight of the enhanced Cygnus with a lengthened cargo module and circular solar wings.<\/p>\n

Once the two sections of Cygnus are mated together, the completed vehicle will be moved to KSC\u2019s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for fueling. The late-stow of cargo two weeks before launch and encapsulation in the rocket\u2019s nose cone will be performed at the PHSF before Cygnus is taken to the Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s assembly building for attachment.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5 rockets with Cygnus will fly in its frequently used 401 configuration with a 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone encapsulating Cygnus, no strap-on boosters and a single engine Centaur upper stage.<\/p>\n

They will be powered off the launch pad on 860,000 pounds of thrust from the kerosene-fueled RD-180 main engine. The Centaur is equipped with a hydrogen-fed RL10C-1 cryogenic engine.<\/p>\n

The new launch is the second commercial Atlas 5 mission to be announced in a week, following EchoStar 19\u2019s booking last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The rocket is scheduled to perform five commercial launches in a year-long span starting with the Mexican Morelos 3 communications satellite this October, the two Cygnus flights, the WorldView 4 Earth-imaging satellite and the EchoStar 19 broadband Internet spacecraft in late 2016.<\/p>\n

Other Atlas 5 launches next year include NASA\u2019s InSight lander to Mars and OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, a new civilian geostationary weather satellite, and Air Force, Navy and NRO flights.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5, an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, has flown 55 times since its debut in August 2002.<\/p>\n

Our Atlas archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of Atlas 5 launch. Credit: ULA CAPE CANAVERAL \u2014 Orbital ATK has ordered another Atlas 5 rocket to launch a second commercial Cygnus cargo craft for the International Space Station. The mission is in addition to the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 already scheduled for Dec. 3 from Cape Canaveral to launch a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[724,3800,3449,639,717,472,3801,3522],"class_list":["post-16134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-061","tag-av-069","tag-cygnus","tag-international-space-station","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-oa-4","tag-oa-5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}