Tag: Wallops
-
Wallops launch sounding rocket to create light show
A Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket has provided people on the mid-Atlantic coast with a luminescent cloud light show. The launch came after several attempts were scrubbed due to cloud cover. The sounding rocket – launched from Wallops Flight Research Facility – will help NASA test a new system that supports science studies of the ionosphere and…
-
Orbital ATK make progress toward Return To Flight of Antares rocket
Following the loss of the CRS-3 resupply mission last October, Orbital ATK has made steady progress in repairing and rebuilding their ground facilities at Wallops and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Despite the always difficult mishap recovery process, Orbital ATK is now on track to return an upgraded version of their Antares rocket to flight in the early part of 2016. Returning Antares…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Orbital’s Antares fails seconds after launch
Orbital’s Antares launch vehicle – tasked with lofting the CRS-3 Cygnus to the International Space Station (ISS) – dramatically failed after around ten seconds of flight, exploding and falling back on to the launch center. There is extensive damage to the Wallops facility, although it has been confirmed all personnel are accounted for, with no…
-
Orbital Sciences cleared for final Antares launch preps
The Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft inside an integration hangar at Wallops Island, Va. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp. Orbital Sciences Corp. is set to launch its next commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station on Monday after inspections revealed a rocket tracking station in Bermuda weathered a direct hit from Hurricane Gonzalo last week.…
-
Antares lofts ORB-2 Cygnus on a path to the ISS
Orbital Sciences launched an Antares rocket with their third Cygnus spacecraft Sunday afternoon, beginning a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The rocket launched at the end of a very smooth countdown at 12:52 local time (16:52 UTC) from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Antares Launch with ORB-2 Cygnus: Cygnus was…
-
Commercial duo refine upcoming launch dates
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 v1.1 launch of six ORBCOMM OG-2 satellites has seen its launch date tweaked to No Earlier Than (NET) launch date to June 15, pending its Static Fire test on Friday. The slight delay is understood to be related to a re-test requirement on the satellites. Meanwhile, Orbital’s launch of the Antares rocket…
-
Orbital’s Minotaur I successfully lofts multitude of payloads
Orbital Sciences Corporation have launched the ORS-3 mission for the US military, using a Minotaur I rocket to demonstrate technology aimed at reducing costs for future missions. The rocket lofted a record 29 satellites, as well as two attached payloads, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island at 20:15 local time Tuesday (01:15 UTC…
-
Orbital’s Antares launches Cygnus on debut mission to ISS
Orbital Sciences Corporation have launched the first Cygnus spacecraft Wednesday, beginning a demonstration mission to the International Space Station which will verify that the vehicle is ready to support NASA’s resupply needs. Liftoff from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, atop an Antares rocket occurred at 10:58 EDT. Cygnus ORB-D: The Cygnus Orb-D1…