Private Spacecraft's 1st Space Station Trip Launches in September

[Buster's Uncle]

Private Spacecraft's 1st Space Station Trip Launches in September
SPACE.com
Megan Gannon 7 hours ago

Artist's rendering of Cygnus spacecraft approaching the International Space Station.

A new commercial U.S. spacecraft is set to make its first flight to the International Space Station this September, paving the way for regular cargo deliveries to the orbiting laboratory.

The Dulles, Va.-based spaceflight company Orbital Sciences announced a planned launch window of between Sept. 14 and 19 to send its first cargo ship Cygnus spacecraft on a demonstration flight to the space station from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The mission will launch on Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket, which made its first test flight in April.

Orbital was awarded a $1.9 billion NASA contract to provide at least eight resupply flights to the station using Antares and Cygnus. If September's demonstration is successful, the first of these fully operational trips should take place by the end of the year, Orbital said in a statement.

In April, the company launched its Antares rocket in a successful debut flight at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Orbital initially had planned for its demonstration mission to take place earlier than mid-September, but the launch of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Experiment Explorer, or Ladee, is first priority at Wallops. That lunar-orbiting spacecraft is set to investigate the moon's transient atmosphere and mysterious levitating dust particles. It has a launch window of Sept. 6-10.

But in case the Ladee mission encounters an unexpected delay, Orbital says it will be ready to launch Antares and Cygnus by late August.

Cygnus has already been fueled and packed with about 1,300 lbs. (589 kg) of cargo, with another 250 pounds (113 kg) expected to be loaded later, the company says. As of now, Cygnus is scheduled to dock with the space station on Sept. 22.

Orbital Sciences is one of two companies with NASA contracts for commercial cargo missions to the station. The other firm, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif., has a $1.6 billion agreement with NASA for 12 unmanned cargo missions to the orbiting lab.

NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, and the agency is now leaning on commercial companies to keep the space station fully stocked. Though NASA currently relies on Russian Soyuz vehicles to bring astronauts to the ISS, American firms like Orbital and SpaceX eventually are expected to take on crewed missions.

http://news.yahoo.com/private-spacecrafts-1st-space-station-trip-launches-september-115612660.html

[Buster's Uncle]

ISS cargo ship demonstration from Va. set for Sept
Associated Press
Brock Vergakis, Associated Press July 16, 2013


NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A NASA contractor says it will ferry supplies from Virginia to the International Space Station in late September in what the company hopes will be the first of many resupply missions.

Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp. says its Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to launch sometime between Sept. 14 and 19, and dock with the International Space Station on Sept. 22.

The company had hoped to launch its unmanned spacecraft on a demonstration flight to the International Space Station sooner than that. But a notice on the company's website says the NASA facility it launches from on the Eastern Shore of Virginia has another high-profile launch already scheduled for early September. If there are delays with that other launch - the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Experiment Explorer mission - Orbital says it will be prepared to launch as early as late August.

In April, Orbital successfully test-launched the rocket that will carry the spacecraft from Wallops Island, Va. The company is now in the process of integrating and testing the launch vehicle for the September launch.

Orbital is one of two companies with contracts to resupply the International Space Station after NASA ended its three-decade-old shuttle program in 2011. The space agency turned to private companies for the job, saying it would focus on getting manned flights to asteroids and to Mars. The U.S. also plans to turn to private companies to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, but that's still several years away. Until then, the U.S. must rely on hitching expensive rides with the Russians.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, Calif., was awarded a $1.6 billion contract by NASA in 2006 to make a dozen restocking missions. SpaceX launches its cargo ship from Florida and has linked up with the space station three times. Its Dragon capsule doesn't burn up in the atmosphere upon return and the company wants to repurpose it so it can also carry astronauts.

In 2008, Orbital jumped in and was awarded a $1.9 billion contract for eight deliveries. Orbital has said it wasn't cost effective to design a cargo ship capable of re-entry. The September mission is technically a demonstration flight to prove its cargo ship can dock with the space station, but company officials agreed to deliver cargo as long as it was going there anyways. SpaceX did the same thing with its unmanned Dragon capsule.

Orbital officials hope to make their first contract-delivery from Wallops Island later this year.

The Cygnus spacecraft is already fueled and loaded with about 1,300 pounds of cargo, including food, clothing and spare parts. Another 250 pounds of supplies will be added at a later date.

After delivering its supplies, the Cygnus spacecraft will burn up in the atmosphere upon its return.

http://news.yahoo.com/iss-cargo-ship-demonstration-va-155319403.html