Tag: Cygnus

Orbital Sciences has set July 11 as the launch date for its next Cygnus cargo mission to ISS.

They have concluded their inspection of the refurbished Russian engines on the Antares rocket and are satisfied it does not have the problems that caused another engine to blow up during tests.

Orbital Sciences has delayed its next Cygnus cargo launch to ISS until July 10 at the earliest.

This delay is in connection with their on-going investigation into the failure of a Russian engine during testing, the same kind of engine used by the Antares rocket.

Orbital Sciences has delayed its next Cygnus flight to ISS by at least one week in order to complete its investigation of the failure of a Russian-built rocket engine used by the Antares rocket.

Without doubt, this engine failure highlights the urgent need for American rocket companies to develop their own rocket engines.

Cygnus was successfully berthed to ISS today.

This is the first operational station resupply mission carried out by Orbital Sciences under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA calling for at least eight flights and delivery of 40,000 pounds of cargo and supplies.

The Cygnus captured Sunday will remain attached to the space station until mid February. At that point SpaceX will step up with launch of a Dragon cargo ship around Feb. 22. It will be the third operational resupply flight by SpaceX, which holds a $1.6 billion contract to deliver more than 44,000 pounds of supplies over a dozen missions.

Orbital Sciences has successfully launched its Cygnus cargo ferry into orbit.

Another perfect launch for the company.

Consider once again what has happened. While it cost NASA six years and $9 billion to build nothing before its Constellation program was cancelled, two private companies have built and launched two different rockets and unmanned cargo spacecraft in that same time period for about a third of that cost.

The contrast couldn’t be more stark. And that contrast will get even more stark as the flights of the privately built manned spacecraft by SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada unfold in the coming three years, while SLS and Orion sit around and do little but spend money.

NASA and Orbital Sciences have rescheduled the Cygnus freighter launch to ISS until January 8 because of cold weather.

Orbital Sciences, having delayed the launch of its first operational Cygnus cargo mission to ISS by one day, has named the spacecraft after the late astronaut Gordon Fullerton.

Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.

The fan has been a minor issue. The astronauts have simply turned it off periodically when it started to act up. What is really important is this:

The next Cygnus – along with its Antares launch vehicle – is already being processed at Orbital’s Wallops facility, with a target launch date of December 15, with an available launch window through to December 21.