NASA / Bill Ingalls
Rise of the Antares... After two launch scrubs last week (April 17's delay due to an umbilical cord prematurely disconnecting from the rocket just moments before lift-off, and yesterday's postponement caused by bad weather), Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket flawlessly rose from its seaside pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 2:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time today. Considering how smooth the ascent to orbit was this afternoon, Antares should be on-track to begin ferrying Orbital Sciences' Cygnus freighter to the International Space Station (ISS) as early as this June. Assuming that goes without a hitch, NASA's bid to outsource ISS cargo flights to private space companies other than SpaceX will become ever more fruitful...with Boeing's CST-100 and Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser two of the last commercially-made craft (primarily designed to carry astronauts, that is) to come online.
NASA / Bill Ingalls
NASA / Bill Ingalls
NASA / Bill Ingalls
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