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Rollout of Antares Rocket with first Cygnus Spacecraft for International Space Station – Video

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Rollout of Antares Rocket with first Cygnus Spacecraft for International Space Station
The Orbital Sciences Antares rocket rolled out to the launch pad the other day ahead of it #39;s demo Cygnus flight to the International Space Station. This is t...

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Rollout of Antares Rocket with first Cygnus Spacecraft for International Space Station - Video

[Antares] Launch Replays of Antares Rocket with Inaugural Cygnus Spacecraft Heading to Space Station – Video

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[Antares] Launch Replays of Antares Rocket with Inaugural Cygnus Spacecraft Heading to Space Station
FULL LAUNCH VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iamuBcm4qs Launch replays from various camera angles. The very first fully functioning Cygnus spacecraft b...

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[Antares] Launch Replays of Antares Rocket with Inaugural Cygnus Spacecraft Heading to Space Station - Video

Orbital launches cargo ship on maiden flight to space station

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Updated at 01:35 PM EDT, 09/18/13

In a critical test flight for NASA's space station program, an Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket making only its second flight blasted off from the Virginia coast Wednesday, lofting an unmanned cargo ship on its maiden flight to the international lab complex.

The demonstration mission is a critical test run for Orbital to prove the company's new rocket and Cygnus cargo ship can execute an autonomous rendezvous with the space station and, if necessary, carry out an abort if something goes wrong.

If the four-day trip to the station is successful, Orbital will be clear to begin routine cargo delivery missions later this year, joining Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in a commercial program intended to make up for the retirement of the space shuttle.

Using recycled engines originally built for Russia's moon program, the Antares first stage roared to life at 10:58 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), quickly pushing the 133-toot-tall rocket away from its launching stand at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Island, Va., flight facility.

The Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket moments after launch, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013.

Burning kerosene and liquid oxygen, the refurbished Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-26 engines fired for nearly four minutes, boosting the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere and into the orbital plane of the space station.

Dramatic television views from a camera mounted on the rocket showed the Virginia coastline receding in the background and then the limb of the Earth as the spacecraft accelerated toward orbit. A few moments later, the spent first stage could be seen falling away.

The Antares second stage, powered by an Alliant Techsystems solid-fuel motor, then took over, igniting at an altitude of about 116 miles and firing for two-and-a-half minutes to put the spacecraft into an initial orbit with a high point, or apogee, of about 186 miles and a low point, or perigee, of around 151 miles.

A few moments later, the cargo ship was released from the spent second stage motor and its two solar panels unfolded as planned.

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Orbital launches cargo ship on maiden flight to space station

Chocolate coming from Wallops to space station

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A Virginia company makes its debut this week as a space station delivery service, and the lone American aboard the orbiting lab is counting on a fresh stash of chocolate.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg said she can't wait for this weekend's arrival of a new cargo ship named Cygnus. It will be the first shipment by Orbital Sciences Corp. to the International Space Station.

"You know that there's something packed away in that vehicle, something special for you ... We're human beings and we get very excited about the packages from home and some of the treats that we might get," said Nyberg.

Orbital Sciences is scheduled to launch an unmanned Antares rocket containing Cygnus on Wednesday morning from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's eastern shore. It's where NASA launched a moon spacecraft 1 weeks ago.

NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to keep the space station well stocked in the shuttle-less era.

Orbital Sciences conducted a practice Antares launch in April with a mock payload. This will be its first space station run, coming more than a year after the initial SpaceX delivery.

Because this is considered a test flight, the Cygnus will carry up mostly food and other nonessential items. That suits Nyberg and her two male crewmates an Italian and a Russian. They have been in orbit since the end of May, with two more months to go. Three more residents arrive later next week.

Nyberg's husband NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley put together the care package that's already stowed on the Cygnus capsule. They have one child, 3-year-old Jack.

"It would be really nice to have some fresh home-baked goods, but the fresh part doesn't work very well when it takes a couple days to get here," Nyberg said. "So anything chocolate usually does it for me."

Given a Wednesday launch, the Cygnus should arrive at the space station on Sunday. Unlike the SpaceX Earth-returning Dragon, it will be filled with trash and, once cut loose, burn up during descent.

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Chocolate coming from Wallops to space station

U.S. weighing future of international space station

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Originally published September 15, 2013 at 6:06 PM | Page modified September 16, 2013 at 4:34 PM

Long ago, in a dreamier era, space stations were imagined as portals to the heavens. In the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the huge structure twirled in orbit, aesthetically sublime, a relaxing way station for astronauts heading to the moon. It featured a Hilton and a Howard Johnsons.

The international space station of the 21st century isnt quite as beautiful as that movie version, and its not a gateway to anywhere else. Its a laboratory focused on scientific experiments. Usually there are six people aboard. When they leave, they go back home, down to Earth. Three came home Wednesday, landing in Kazakhstan.

The space station circles the planet at an altitude of about 250 miles. Faint traces of atmosphere exert a drag on it, so the station must be boosted regularly to stay in orbit. In the grand scheme of things, the space station simply isnt very far away. The station has a phone number with a Houston area code.

Advocates for human-space exploration insist that NASA must think bigger, developing missions beyond Low Earth Orbit, into deeper space perhaps back to the moon, or to an asteroid, and certainly to Mars eventually.

But NASA has been struggling for years to square ambitions with budgets. The space station is widely praised as an engineering marvel, but it didnt come cheap.

The United States has poured close to $100 billion into the program and is contributing about t $3 billion a year to the stations operation. Space-policy experts warn that, without a significant boost in budget, NASA will not be able to keep running the station and simultaneously carry out new, costly deep-space missions.

The United States and its partners need to make a tough call: Keep the station flying? Or bring it down?

Boeing, the prime contractor, is trying to prove that the stations components can hold up through at least 2028. Three years ago, Congress extended funding for the station through 2020, and NASAs international partners Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency have made a similar commitment.

But behind the scenes, NASA officials are working to persuade the White House to make a decision, pronto, to keep the orbital laboratory flying after 2020.

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U.S. weighing future of international space station

Weather, glitch delay space station supply ship's debut

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The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft is set to launch one day later than originally planned, due to poor weather and a bad cable.

A combination of bad weather and a technical glitch have pushed a brand-new supply ship's debut test flight to the International Space Station back at least one day, to Wednesday (Sept. 18).

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The unmannedCygnus spacecraft, built by Virginia-based company Orbital Sciences, is now scheduled to blast off atop an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., on Wednesday (Sept. 18) rather than Tuesday. Liftoff is set for 10:50 a.m. EDT (1450 GMT).

"The combination of yesterdays poor weather that delayed rollout of the rocket to the launch pad and a technical issue that was identified during a combined systems test held last night involving communications between ground equipment and the rockets flight computer drove the decision to delay the launch," Orbital Science officials wrote in an update Saturday (Sept. 14). [See photos of the new Cygnus spacecraft's launch pad trip]

"After comprehensive inspection and testing this morning, the problem was found and turned out to be an inoperative cable, which is being replaced," they added. "Orbital will repeat the combined systems test later today. Once that important test is successfully completed, the team will be able to proceed toward a September 18 launch."

The cylindrical Cygnus spacecraft and its Antares rocket are designed to launch cargo delivery missions to the space station for NASA. Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion deal with NASA for eight Cygnus delivery missions, but these flights can begin only after the company proves the spacecraft is ready to haul supplies to the orbiting lab.

Orbital Scienceslaunched the first Antares rocket test flight in April. But that demonstration carried only a mass simulator designed to mimic the weight of a Cygnus spacecraft on the rocket. Wednesday's planned launch will lift off from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

The mission will mark the debut of a fully functional Cygnus cargo ship, Orbital Sciences officials said. If all goes well, the Cygnus supply ship will arrive at the International Space Station on Sept. 22 after a series of in-orbit tests, NASA officials said.

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Weather, glitch delay space station supply ship's debut

Weather, glitch delays space station supply ship's debut

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The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft is set to launch one day later than originally planned, due to poor weather and a bad cable.

A combination of bad weather and a technical glitch have pushed a brand-new supply ship's debut test flight to the International Space Station back at least one day, to Wednesday (Sept. 18).

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The unmannedCygnus spacecraft, built by Virginia-based company Orbital Sciences, is now scheduled to blast off atop an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., on Wednesday (Sept. 18) rather than Tuesday. Liftoff is set for 10:50 a.m. EDT (1450 GMT).

"The combination of yesterdays poor weather that delayed rollout of the rocket to the launch pad and a technical issue that was identified during a combined systems test held last night involving communications between ground equipment and the rockets flight computer drove the decision to delay the launch," Orbital Science officials wrote in an update Saturday (Sept. 14). [See photos of the new Cygnus spacecraft's launch pad trip]

"After comprehensive inspection and testing this morning, the problem was found and turned out to be an inoperative cable, which is being replaced," they added. "Orbital will repeat the combined systems test later today. Once that important test is successfully completed, the team will be able to proceed toward a September 18 launch."

The cylindrical Cygnus spacecraft and its Antares rocket are designed to launch cargo delivery missions to the space station for NASA. Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion deal with NASA for eight Cygnus delivery missions, but these flights can begin only after the company proves the spacecraft is ready to haul supplies to the orbiting lab.

Orbital Scienceslaunched the first Antares rocket test flight in April. But that demonstration carried only a mass simulator designed to mimic the weight of a Cygnus spacecraft on the rocket. Wednesday's planned launch will lift off from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

The mission will mark the debut of a fully functional Cygnus cargo ship, Orbital Sciences officials said. If all goes well, the Cygnus supply ship will arrive at the International Space Station on Sept. 22 after a series of in-orbit tests, NASA officials said.

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Weather, glitch delays space station supply ship's debut


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