Antares rocket makes debut launch
APR 22, 2013
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026948
Los Angeles Times : Yesterday at 5:00pm, Orbital Sciences Corp successfully launched its Antares rocket on a first test flight. The largest rocket ever to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, it is carrying a dummy cargo capsule similar to the one Orbital will use to resupply the International Space Station. The test mission was the first of two that Orbital has scheduled before it launches its first space station resupply mission later this year. Another company under contract with NASAâmdash;Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceXâmdash;successfully tested its Falcon 9 rocket in 2010 and recently launched its second resupply mission to the space station. The two craft differ in that SpaceX’s is reusable, whereas Orbital’s is disposable and will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of the mission.
© 2013 American Institute of Physics
