Tag: Orbital ATK
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Station-bound cargo ship shown to press before launch
The Orbital ATK’s Cygnus commercial resupply spacecraft, named the SS Deke Slayton II, is packed up and poised for launch to the International Space Station. Engineers showed the vessel to local reporters and photographers at the Kennedy Space Center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility on Friday. It will be encapsulated in the Atlas 5 rocket’s 14-foot…
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Stacking starts for Atlas 5 cargo run to space station with Cygnus
The mission poster. Credit: ULA CAPE CANAVERAL — United Launch Alliance today began stacking its first Atlas 5 rocket to fly in service to the International Space Station, a commercial mission to send supplies to the orbiting complex. This launch, planned for Dec. 3, and another targeted for March 10, are precursors to the much…
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Radio bug to keep new Iridium satellites grounded until April
Artist’s concept of an Iridium Next satellite. Credit: Thales Alenia Space The first launch for Iridium’s next-generation mobile communications fleet has been pushed back four months — from December until April — to resolve a technical problem inside the spacecraft’s Ka-band communications payload. The announcement Oct. 29 means Iridium will miss a long-targeted timetable to…
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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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Bags are packed inside Cygnus commercial cargo freighter
Technicians load cargo inside the Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized supply section in this photo taken Oct. 20. Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis The first installment of supplies and provisions tagged for launch on Orbital ATK’s next commercial supply run to the International Space Station, the company’s first since a catastrophic launch failure last year, has been loaded into…
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Cygnus service module arrives in Florida for station flight
The Cygnus service module for the OA-4 space station resupply mission arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. Credit: Orbital ATK The power and propulsion section of Orbital ATK’s next Cygnus supply ship, featuring new solar panel and fuel tank designs, arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday to be joined with…
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Orbital ATK beats out Aerojet in ULA booster selection
File photo of Orbital ATK’s GEM-60 solid rocket booster before attachment to a Delta 4 rocket. The Atlas 5 and Vulcan rockets will use an enlarged version of the motor beginning at the end of 2018. Credit: NASA United Launch Alliance has selected Orbital ATK to provide solid rocket boosters for the company’s next-generation Vulcan…
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Orbital ATK receives orders for two more ISS cargo flights
The Italian-built pressurized cargo module for Orbital ATK’s next resupply mission to the International Space Station arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 10. The Cygnus service module is due to arrive at KSC in October for launch Dec. 3 aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. Credit: Orbital ATK NASA has put off…
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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.…