NASA commercial partner Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., successfully conducted
an engine test of its Antares rocket Friday, February 22, at the nation's newest
launch pad.
The company fired dual AJ26 rocket engines for approximately
30 seconds while the first stage of Orbital's Antares rocket was held down on
the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight
Facility in Wallops Island, Va. The test demonstrated the readiness of the
rocket's first stage and launch pad fueling systems to support upcoming test
flights.
"This pad test is an important reminder of how strong and
diverse the commercial space industry is in our nation,” said Phil McAlister,
director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. “A little more than one year after the retirement of the space
shuttle, we had a U.S company resupplying the space station, and another is now
taking the next critical steps to launch from America’s newest gateway to
low-Earth Orbit. Today marks significant progress for Orbital, MARS and the NASA
team."
Orbital is building and testing its new rocket and Cygnus cargo
spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
program. A demonstration flight of Antares and Cygnus to the space station is
planned for later this year. Following the successful completion of the COTS
demonstration mission to the station, Orbital will begin conducting eight planed
cargo resupply flights to the orbiting laboratory through NASA's $1.9 billion
Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company.
Wallops, which
has launched more than 16,000 rockets in its 67-year history, provided launch
range support for the hot fire test, including communications, data collection,
range safety and area clearance.
NASA initiatives like COTS are helping
develop a robust U.S. commercial space transportation industry with the goal of
achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the space
station and low-Earth orbit. In parallel, NASA's Commercial Crew Program is
working with commercial space partners developing capabilities to launch U.S.
astronauts from U.S. soil in the next few years.
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