Orbital Completes Test, Antares Launch Still Set for September 18
Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully completed a new test of its Antares rocket last night and confirms that the launch is now scheduled for Wednesday, September 18.
The launch window is open from 10:50 – 11:05 am Eastern Daylight Time.
This is Orbital’s demonstration flight for NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. It is the second flight of Antares and the first of Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft that is taking supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). If the launch takes place as scheduled on September 18, Cygnus will berth with the ISS on Sunday, September 22.
The launch slipped from September 17 to September 18 because of an inoperative cable that had to be replaced. In a posting on its website today, the company said the Combined Systems Test conducted last night was successful and they are pressing forward with plans to launch on Wednesday. The launch is from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the coast of Virginia.
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