Tag: Orb-3
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NASA quietly posts images of explosive Antares failure
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,…
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Two Antares failure probes produce different results
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…
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Workers complete $15 million in repairs to Antares launch pad
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…
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New engines arrive at Antares rocket launch site
File photo of an Antares rocket on its launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: Orbital ATK The first pair of new Russian main engines for Orbital ATK’s modernized Antares rocket has arrived at the company’s Virginia launch base as engineers prepare to return the commercial booster to flight after a catastrophic failure last year.…
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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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Orbital ATK targets resumption of Antares launches in March 2016
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…
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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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NASA hopes to replace cargo lost on Antares failure this year
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station on Jan. 12 with 2.6 tons of supplies. Credit: NASA NASA officials say the International Space Station’s logistics chain was designed to absorb a launch failure like the mishap that destroyed an Orbital Sciences Corp. cargo craft in October, but pressure is on SpaceX to deliver…
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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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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…