By Ken Kremer
The new ‘Commercial Space Era’ received a
resounding boost today when a privately developed
Antares rocket lofting the first ever Cygnus commercial
cargo resupply craft thundered to space from
America’s newest launch pad at NASA Wallops along
the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
The history making launch marks the first time that
a spacecraft launched from Virginia is blazing a path
to the International Space Station (ISS) – thereby
scoring a milestone achievement to keep the orbiting
lab complex stocked up with supplies and science
experiments from American soil. This is the maiden flight
of Cygnus.
Move over SpaceX ! Your space competition from
Orbital Sciences has arrived!
It was a ‘picture perfect’ blastoff for the two stage
Antares booster at 10:58 a.m. EDT this morning (Sept. 18)
from the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The blastoff of Antares was stunningly beautiful with
intensely bright flames spewing from the rockets rear.
And the incredibly loud roar of the first stage engines
reverberated widely and wowed hoards of spectators
gathered throughout the local viewing area in
Chincoteague, Va. – and woke late sleepers some folks
told me later today!
The rumbling thunder of Antares sounded as loud as
a space shuttle.
An artist rendering of the Cygnus spacecraft approaching the
Image: Orbital Sciences Corporation
International Space Station.
Antares and Cygnus were built by Orbital Sciences
Corporation and its team of industrial partners using seed
money from NASA’s COTS commercial transportation
initiative aimed at fostering the development of
America’s commercial space industry to deliver critical
and essential supplies to the ISS.
America lost 100% of its capability to send humans
and cargo to the ISS when NASA’s Space Shuttles were
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Front view showing docking mechanism and hatch of Cygnus module in this full scale, high fidelity mockup of the Orbital Sciences/
Thales Alenia spacecraft gives a feel for it being similar in size to
Image: Ken Kremer
a small room.
retired in 2011. Orbital Sciences and their competitor
SpaceX, were awarded NASA contracts to restore the
unmanned cargo resupply capability.
Thales Alenia Space in Italy designed and
constructed the 17 foot ( 5 meter) long Cygnus module
under contract with Orbital.
“Thales Alenia has actually built 50% of the
pressurized modules currently comprising the ISS,” said
Luigi Quaglino, Thales Alenia Senior Vice President.
“This is a historic accomplishment for commercial
spaceflight with the picture perfect launch of Antares
and Cygnus headed for the space station,” said
Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA’s program manager for
commercial crew and cargo, at a post launch briefing
for reporters at NASA Wallops.
In fact this was the heavi W7B6&v