RocketSTEM Issue #5 - January 2014 | Page 2

Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully launched their Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station on Jan. 9th. With freezing cold and clear blue skies as a backdrop the company sent Cygnus skyward atop their Antares rocket, which thundered away from the MidAtlantic Regional Spaceport launch Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission, Orb-1, marks the first of eight contracted resupply flights for Orbital under a $1.9 billion agreement with NASA. Photo: AmericaSpace.com/Mike Killian