"WITH THE COMPLETION OF THE ANTARES ROLL OUT TODAY, WE ARE ON A CLEAR PATH TO A LAUNCH DATE OF APRIL 17, PROVIDED THERE ARE NO SIGNIFICANT WEATHER DISRUPTIONS OR MAJOR VEHICLE CHECK-OUT DELAYS BETWEEN NOW AND THEN," said Mr. Michael Pinkston, Orbital's Antares Program Manager. "BY LATER TODAY, THE ANTARES ROCKET WILL BE IN A VERTICAL POSITION AND FULLY INTEGRATED WITH THE LAUNCH MOUNT ON THE MARS PAD."
The Antares test flight, dubbed the A-ONE mission, is the first of two missions Orbital is scheduled to conduct in 2013 under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Space Act Agreement with NASA. NASA initiatives like COTS are helping develop a robust U.S. commercial space transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station and low-Earth orbit.
Following a successful A-ONE launch, Orbital will carry out a full flight demonstration of its new Antares/Cygnus cargo delivery system to the International Space Station (ISS) around mid-year. In addition, the company is also scheduled to launch the first of eight operational cargo resupply missions to the ISS in 2013 under a 1.9-billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.
All COTS and CRS flights will originate from NASA's WFF and the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority launch pad, which is geographically well suited for ISS missions and can also accommodate launches of scientific, defense and commercial satellites to other orbits.
The Antares medium-class launch system will provide a major increase in the payload launch capability that Orbital can provide to NASA, the U.S. Air Force and other customers. The Antares rocket will launch spacecraft weighing up to 14,000 lbs. into low-Earth orbit, as well as lighter-weight payloads into higher-energy orbits.
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