Tag: AJ26

  • Key events during the Antares rocket’s climb to orbit

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    Credit: Orbital ATK Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will deliver the commercial Cygnus supply ship to an orbit with an altitude between 130 miles (209 kilometers) and 179 miles (288 kilometers) within about nine minutes of liftoff from Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The rocket’s two RD-181 engines will ignite around 3.6 seconds before liftoff from pad 0A…

  • NASA quietly posts images of explosive Antares failure

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    Less than a week after publishing the results of an independent investigation into last year’s Antares rocket failure, NASA has released dramatic new photos of the catastrophic crash just after liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia. The space agency posted a handful of photos of the failure shortly after the ill-fated Oct. 28, 2014, Antares launch,…

  • Two Antares failure probes produce different results

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    Orbital’s Antares rocket suffers a failure moments after liftoff Oct. 28, 2014, from Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky An Orbital ATK investigation into last year’s Antares rocket crash in Virginia identified a decades-old manufacturing defect inside an AJ26 engine turbopump as the most likely cause of the failure, but a team of NASA engineers…

  • Workers complete $15 million in repairs to Antares launch pad

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    Launch pad 0A has been repaired after sustaining $15.2 million in damage during the Oct. 28, 2014, failure of an Antares rocket. Credit: VCSFA Repair crews in Virginia have restored the Antares booster’s launch pad — damaged in an explosive rocket crash nearly one year ago — to flight-ready status as the Orbital ATK launcher…

  • RD-181 engines prepared for shipment to U.S.

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    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…

  • Orbital ATK targets resumption of Antares launches in March 2016

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    An Antares rocket lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, in July 2014. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Space station resupply missions launched from Virginia’s Eastern Shore are set to resume in March 2016, after Orbital ATK integrates newly-built rocket engines into the Ukrainian-made booster stage of the company’s commercial Antares rocket and puts it through an on-pad…

  • Orbital Sciences signs contract for new Antares engines

    —

    by

    starpathwp-production
    in

    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…