Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Orbital selects Atlas for 2015 Cape launch of ISS cargo

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: December 10, 2014 10:00:23 AM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Orbital selects Atlas for 2015 Cape launch of ISS cargo

Orbital selects Atlas for 2015 Cape launch of ISS cargo
James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 6:14 p.m. EST December 9, 2014
Orbital Sciences on Tuesday confirmed plans for at least one Florida launch of ISS cargo
(Photo: NASA)

Cape Canaveral will be the starting point for all cargo launched from the United States to the International Space Station next year.
Orbital Sciences Corp. on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch an unmanned Cygnus cargo craft from the Cape late next year on United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.
That mission, and an option for another in 2016, are part of Orbital's plan to recover from the Oct. 28 explosion of an Antares rocket shortly after liftoff from the company's launch base in Virginia.
SpaceX, NASA's other commercial launcher of ISS cargo, already sends Dragon cargo ships into orbit from the Cape. The next Dragon launch by a Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for 2:31 p.m. next Tuesday.
The Falcon 9 and Atlas V blast off from neighboring pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Meanwhile, Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital said it would ready its own Antares rocket for a return to flight from Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island by early 2016.
The rocket will feature a new first-stage propulsion system, which Orbital still has not revealed, to replace the pairs of Soviet-era AJ-26 engines that powered Antares rockets.
The Antares enjoyed four successful launches, but failed spectacularly on its fifth try, which was the third mission under a $1.9 billion NASA resupply contract.
An investigation continues into what caused the Antares to lose thrust about 15 seconds into flight, causing it to fall back to the ground and explode not far from its pad. A turbopump has been cited as an early suspect.
Orbital said it expects most repairs to the launch complex to be completed by next fall. It would then be re-certified to support launches of three ISS resupply missions in 2016.
The new Antares will be more powerful, allowing each Cygnus to be loaded with 20 percent more cargo. ULA's Atlas V is bigger still, enabling 35 percent more cargo to be packed.
As a result, Orbital says it will deliver all its contracted cargo through 2016 with four launches instead of five.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

Copyright © 2014 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

Orbital picks Atlas 5 to launch next space station cargo run
December 9, 2014 by Stephen Clark
File photo of an Atlas 5 launch in the "401" configuration, the same version that launch Orbital Sciences' Cygnus supply ship in late 2015. Credit: ULA
Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Tuesday it selected United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket to launch a Cygnus space station resupply mission in late 2015 while the company redesigns its Antares booster with a new engine following a catastrophic failure seconds after liftoff in October.
The Atlas 5 launcher will take off from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad to send Orbital's Cygnus supply ship on a trek to the International Space Station.
The flight is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2015, Orbital Sciences said in a statement.
The Atlas 5 rocket will fly in the "401" configuration with a four-meter diameter payload shroud covering the Cygnus spacecraft, no strap-on solid rocket boosters, and a single-engine Centaur upper stage, according to ULA.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed by Orbital or ULA.
"We could not be more honored that Orbital selected ULA to launch its Cygnus spacecraft," said Jim Sponnick, ULA's vice president of Atlas and Delta programs. "This mission was awarded in a highly competitive environment, and we look forward to continuing ULA's long history of providing reliable, cost-effective launch services for customers."
Orbital officials said in November they were was considering two U.S.-based launch companies and a European launch provider — believed to be ULA, SpaceX and Arianespace — for at least one Cygnus mission in 2015.
"Orbital is pleased to partner with ULA for these important cargo missions to the International Space Station," said Frank Culbertson, Orbital's executive vice president and general manager of its advanced programs group. "ULA's ability to integrate and launch missions on relatively short notice demonstrates ULA's manifest flexibility and responsiveness to customer launch needs."
Orbital hopes the redesigned Antares rocket — with a new first stage propulsion system — will be ready to begin flights in the first quarter of 2016, the company said Tuesday.
Officials decided to switch out the Antares rocket's first stage engines in the wake of the Oct. 28 explosion, which destroyed a Cygnus cargo craft heading for the space station and damaged Antares launch facilities at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Investigators said the Oct. 28 failure originated in the turbopump machinery of one of the booster's AJ26 main engines, which were manufactured in Russia in the 1970s for the Soviet Union's N1 moon rocket. The engines — known as NK-33 engines in Russia — were kept in storage until the 1990s, when Aerojet Rocketdyne purchased the powerplants and imported them to the United States for use on American launch vehicles.
Artist's concept of an enhanced Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft approaching the International Space Station. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.
The Dulles, Va.-based company's contract with ULA includes an option for an additional Atlas 5 launch in 2016 if the upgraded Antares rocket is not ready to resume flights.
The switch to a new engine and price of purchasing an unplanned Atlas 5 launch will come at no extra cost to NASA, according to Orbital.
Orbital Sciences has not identified the new propulsion solution for the Antares rocket, but Russian news reports last month said the RD-193 engine — a single-nozzle kerosene-fueled engine made by NPO Energomash of Khimki, Russia — was Orbital's likely choice. Two RD-193 engines mounted on the bottom of the Antares rocket's first stage would give the launcher extra thrust to lift heavier payloads into orbit, officials said.
Orbital has not confirmed what engine it selected.
The next Cygnus flight will be the craft's first mission in an "enhanced" configuration with new power-generating solar arrays, an extended pressurized cargo compartment, and lighter structural components help it take up more supplies to the space station.
With the selection of the Atlas 5 rocket, plus the higher cargo capacity available on the upgraded Cygnus spacecraft, Orbital plans to meet its contractual commitment to carry up at least 20 metric tons, or about 44,000 pounds, of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station in seven flights.
Orbital's $1.9 billion space station resupply contract with NASA originally called for eight launches.
The Atlas 5's lift capability will allow the Cygnus spacecraft to haul 35 percent more cargo than possible if the supply ship flew on the less powerful Antares rocket, according to Orbital Sciences.
Three flights of the modified Antares booster with new engines are scheduled for the first quarter, second quarter and fourth quarter of 2016 from the Wallops launch base in Virginia, Orbital said.
Orbital Sciences is bidding for a new round of cargo contracts to be awarded by NASA in March or April.
© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

Private Cargo Spacecraft Gets New Rocket Ride After Accident
by Miriam Kramer, Space.com Staff Writer | December 09, 2014 06:01pm ET

An image of the aftermath of an Antares rocket explosion in Virginia on Oct. 28, 2014. It will take until 2015 to fix the damage, officials have said.
Credit: NASA View full size image
A privately built robotic cargo spaceship has a new ride to the International Space Station following an October rocket explosion.
The aerospace firm Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to fly robotic supply missions to the space station using the company's Cygnus spacecraft. But since the explosion of one of Orbital's Antares rockets just after launch in late October, those missions have come to a halt. The company now has a contract with United Launch Alliance to launch Cygnus on up to two cargo runs atop ULA's Atlas V rocket in the next two years, representatives announced today (Dec. 9).
"Orbital is pleased to partner with ULA for these important cargo missions to the International Space Station," Frank Culbertson, Orbital executive vice president and general manager of its Advanced Programs Group, said in a statement. "ULA's ability to integrate and launch missions on relatively short notice demonstrates ULA's manifest flexibility and responsiveness to customer launch needs." [Antares Rocket Explosion in Pictures]
Orbital will use the Atlas V to launch at least one Cygnus to the station in late 2015, with another mission possible, if needed, in 2016 while the company changes out the engines used in the first stage of its Antares rocket. Cygnus will be able to carry 35 percent more cargo during its missions on the Atlas V than it was able to with the first version of Antares, Orbital representatives said.
Orbital Sciences was already planning on updating or replacing Antares' AJ26 rocket engines — which are refurbished versions of engines built by the Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s — with new first-stage engines when the accident at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia occurred. Officials now think a flaw in the AJ26 engine could be to blame for the launch mishap, which caused no injuries but did significant damage to the launch pad.
Representatives with Orbital Sciences also report that they expect to begin launching Cygnus missions to the station with the upgraded Antares in 2016.
"The greater payload performance of the upgraded Antares will permit Cygnus spacecraft on each of these missions to deliver over 20 percent more cargo than in prior plans," Orbital Sciences representatives said in a statement. "With necessary supplier contracts now in place, the first new propulsion systems are expected to arrive at the Antares final assembly facility at Wallops Island, Virginia in mid-2015 to begin vehicle integration and testing."
The Cygnus resupply missions launching atop Atlas V rockets will take flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, not Virginia, where Antares rockets launched before the Oct. 28 accident. Officials now think that it will take until autumn 2015 for the damage caused by the Antares explosion to be fixed.
Orbital isn't the only company flying unmanned cargo missions to the space station. The private spaceflight company SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly 12 missions to the station using the company's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX is currently scheduled to launch its fifth cargo mission to the station on Tuesday (Dec. 16) from Florida.

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