Orbital Sciences' cargo ship blasts off for space station

[Buster's Uncle]

Orbital Sciences' cargo ship blasts off for space station
Reuters
By Irene Klotz  59 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket blasted off on Thursday bound for the International Space Station to deliver the first of eight cargo ships for NASA.

The 13-story rocket lifted off its seaside launch pad in Wallops Island, Virginia, at 1:07 p.m. EST/1807 GMT, putting the Cygnus freighter on track for an early Sunday rendezvous with the station.

Launch, which was broadcast live on NASA Television, was delayed twice this week, first by cold weather and then by high space radiation stemming from a massive solar flare on Tuesday. Both conditions could have impacted critical rocket systems.

Orbital Sciences is one of two firms hired by NASA to fly cargo to the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is preparing for its third supply run on February 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Thursday's launch was the third for Antares, a medium-lift rocket that Orbital also is marketing for satellite launches.

"We are negotiating with people with other payloads besides the Cygnus spacecraft and intend to fly more cargo out of Wallops," Orbital Sciences executive vice president Frank Culbertson told reporters during a prelaunch news conference on Tuesday. He declined to elaborate on prospective customers.

The company holds a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to fly eight Cygnus cargo ships to the station, a permanently staffed research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

SpaceX has a separate 12-flight NASA contract worth $1.6 billion.

Orbital Sciences and SpaceX previously received a combined $686 million from NASA to help develop their rockets, capsules and launch sites.

Orbital Sciences' Antares rockets fly from a commercial space port carved out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. SpaceX's NASA missions launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Orbital Sciences debuted its Antares rocket in April 2013 and made a successful test run to the space station five months later. It planned to start flying cargo in December, but NASA delayed the flight to tackle a high-priority repair to the station's cooling system.

Cygnus is loaded with 3,221 pounds (1461 kg) of equipment and supplies for the station, including science experiments, computers and replacement parts for NASA's spacesuits.

The capsule also holds food, fresh fruit and belated Christmas gifts for the crew. "We haven't changed them out for Valentine's cards," Culbertson quipped.

The freighter is due to arrive at the station shortly after 6 a.m. EST/1100 GMT on Sunday.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-39-cargo-ship-blasts-off-space-185203963--sector.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Cargo ship with gifts, ants heads to space station
Associated Press
By MARCIA DUNN  19 minutes ago



Orbital Science Corps.' Antares rocket lifts off from Wallops Island, Va. on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. The rocket is carrying the company's first official re-supply mission to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Eastern Shore News, Jay Diem)



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A privately launched supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Thursday following a series of delays ranging from the cold to the sun.

Orbital Sciences Corp. launched its unmanned Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., offering a view to nearby states along the East Coast. It successfully hoisted a capsule packed with 3,000 pounds of equipment and experiments provided by NASA, as well as food and even some ants for an educational project. Christmas presents also are on board for the six space station residents; the delivery is a month late.

The spacecraft, named Cygnus, should reach the station on Sunday. The orbiting outpost was zooming over the Atlantic, near Brazil, when the Antares blasted off.

"It's going to be an exciting weekend," Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata said in a tweet from the space station.

The delivery had been delayed three times since December, most recently because of a strong solar storm. Engineers initially feared solar radiation might cause the rocket to veer off course. But additional reviews Wednesday deemed it an acceptable risk. Previous delays were due to space station repairs and frigid temperatures. Thursday was a relatively balmy 45 degrees.

NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the SpaceX company to restock the space station. The Orbital Sciences' contract alone is worth $1.9 billion.



This photo provided by NASA shows an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launch


This was Orbital Sciences' second trip to the orbiting lab, but its first under the contract. The company conducted a successful test run last September. Two more trips are scheduled for this year. Orbital Sciences launches from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia, its corporate base. California-based SpaceX flies from Cape Canaveral. It's scheduled to make its fourth supply run next month.

"Great way to start out the new year ... we're all smiles here," said Bill Wrobel, director of NASA's Wallops facility, after Thursday's launch.

The U.S., Russian and Japanese space station residents eagerly awaited the goodies inside the Cygnus. Their families included Christmas gifts; the Cygnus should have arrived in time for the holiday. NASA also tucked in some fresh fruit.

When asked earlier this week if any gifts were swapped out given the delay, Orbital Sciences' executive vice president Frank Culbertson quipped, "We haven't changed them out for Valentine's cards."

"We think they'll enjoy them anyway," he told reporters.



Orbital Science Corps.' Antares rocket lifts off from Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops, Va


NASA is counting on private industry to keep the space station well stocked and, in another four years, to provide rides to the outpost for U.S. astronauts. Until then, NASA is forced to buy seats on Russian Soyuz capsules. The space shuttles provided most of the heavy lifting until their retirement in 2011.

Russia, Europe and Japan make their own supply runs.

Orbital Sciences named this Cygnus capsule after the late shuttle astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, who died in August at age 76 after suffering a stroke. He flew the airplane for the company's air-launched Pegasus rocket during the 1990s.

After arriving at the space station, the Cygnus will be unloaded and then filled with trash and cut loose for a fiery re-entry in mid-February.

Space station construction began in 1998 and ended with the shuttle program. The White House on Wednesday agreed to a four-year lifetime extension for the station, to 2024.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Orbital Sciences Corp.: http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/Orb-1/


http://news.yahoo.com/cargo-ship-gifts-ants-heads-space-station-192120928.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Orbital Sciences' cargo ship blasts off for space station
Reuters
By Irene Klotz  1 hour ago



WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - An unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket blasted off on Thursday to deliver the first of eight cargo ships to the International Space Station for NASA.

The 13-story rocket lifted off its seaside launch pad on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 1:07 p.m. EST/1807 GMT, putting the Cygnus freighter on track for an early Sunday rendezvous with the station.

"We're in good shape," Orbital Sciences Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson told reporters after launch.

The launch, which was broadcast live on NASA Television, was delayed twice this week, first by cold weather and then by high space radiation due to a massive solar flare on Tuesday. Both conditions could have affected critical rocket systems.

Orbital Sciences is one of two firms hired by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to fly cargo to the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is preparing for its third supply run on Feb. 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Thursday's launch was the third for Antares, a medium-lift rocket that Orbital Sciences also is marketing for satellite launches.

"We are negotiating with people with other payloads besides the Cygnus spacecraft and intend to fly more cargo out of Wallops," Culbertson told reporters before the launch. He declined to elaborate on prospective customers.

The company holds a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to fly eight Cygnus cargo ships to the station, a permanently staffed research outpost that flies about 250 miles (about 400 km) above Earth.

SpaceX has a separate 12-flight NASA contract worth $1.6 billion.

Both companies expect to benefit from the Obama administration's decision on Wednesday to keep the station flying to at least 2024, a four-year extension.

Technically, the station is expected to remain structurally sound until at least 2028, according to a study by prime station contractor Boeing.

"It does give us a chance to think long-term, be innovative ... maybe invest in some improvements in how we can do this to make it more cost-effective and efficient," Culbertson said.

In addition to their station resupply contracts, Orbital Sciences and SpaceX previously received a combined $686 million from NASA to help develop their rockets, capsules and launch sites.

Orbital Sciences' Antares rockets fly from a commercial space port carved out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. SpaceX's NASA missions launch from Cape Canaveral.

Orbital Sciences debuted its Antares rocket in April 2013 and made a successful test run to the space station five months later. It planned to start flying cargo in December, but NASA delayed the launch to tackle a high-priority repair to the station's cooling system.

Cygnus is loaded with 3,221 pounds (1461 kg) of equipment and supplies for the station, including science experiments, computers and replacement parts for NASA's spacesuits.

The capsule also holds food, fresh fruit and belated Christmas gifts for the crew. "We haven't changed them out for Valentine's cards," Culbertson quipped.

The freighter is due to arrive at the station shortly after 6 a.m. EST/1100 GMT on Sunday.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-cargo-ship-blasts-203709344.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Rocket Blasts Off to International Space Station ... Carrying Ants
By ALYSSA NEWCOMB  Jan. 9, 2014



A commercial spaceflight blasted off today from NASA's beachside Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, carrying 2,780 pounds of cargo -- including swarms of ants!

The social insects will be recorded in their living quarters at the International Space Station, according to NASA. Scientists and K-12 students will follow the experiment from Earth, hoping to glean information about the behavior of groups of ants in gravity and microgravity conditions.

NASA said the experiment could help cultivate "a better understanding of swarm intelligence," which could lead to more refined mathematical procedures for solving complex problems, such as routing trucks and scheduling airlines, back on Earth.

Delayed by a day by a huge solar flare, the spacecraft is expected to arrive at the space station during the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 12.



A commercial spaceflight blasted off from NASA's beachside Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia today on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at the space station during the early hours of Jan. 12, 2014.



The Antares rocket was launched from a beachside pad at NASA’s facility at 1:07 pm ET. The launch was delayed one day due to a huge solar flare.



This photo provided by NASA shows an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket launches at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Wallops Island, Va. Antares is carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.


http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/rocket-blasts-off-international-space-station-carrying-ants/story?id=21474735