{"id":13701,"date":"2016-10-18T10:18:55","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T10:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=13701"},"modified":"2016-10-18T12:29:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T12:29:06","slug":"orbital-rocket-blasts-off-on-space-station-cargo-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/orbital-rocket-blasts-off-on-space-station-cargo-run.html","title":{"rendered":"Orbital rocket blasts off on space station cargo run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orbital rocket blasts off on space station cargo run<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Orbital rocket blasts off on space station cargo run:-<\/strong> An unmanned Antares rocket owned by Orbital ATK Inc blasted off from Virginia on Monday with a cargo ship for the International Space Station, marking the booster’s return to flight two years after a previous version exploded at liftoff.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 14-story-tall rocket, powered by a pair of new Russian-made engines, lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT), a NASA TV broadcast showed. <\/span>Launch was delayed five minutes to give the team extra time to review their checklists, Orbital President Frank Culbertson told reporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It\u2019s such a feeling of elation to see the vehicle take off. … I\u2019m very happy to see Antares back,” said Amanda Davis, Orbital\u2019s director of program engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rocket carried a Cygnus capsule loaded with 5,290 pounds (2,400 kg) of food, supplies, equipment and science experiments <\/span>for the space station, a $100-billion laboratory in orbit about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

The capsule is expected to reach the station on Sunday after lingering several days in orbit to allow time for a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three new crew members to reach the outpost on Friday. The Soyuz is slated to launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last Antares launch, on Oct. 28, 2014, ended in disaster a few seconds after liftoff due to a problem with the booster\u2019s refurbished, Soviet-era engines. After the accident, Orbital sped up plans to replace the motors.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the downtime, Orbital bought rides for two Cygnus cargo ships aboard Atlas rockets, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.<\/span><\/p>\n

Orbital conducted a 30-second engine test firing of the Antares at the Virginia launch pad on May <\/span>31, but had never flown the refurbished rocket before Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mission became more crucial for the U.S. space agency after a Sept. 1 accident destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket operated by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and a $200 million Israeli communications satellite.<\/span><\/p>\n

The accident, which occurred while the rocket was being fueled for a routine prelaunch test, has temporarily grounded SpaceX, the only company apart from Orbital currently contracted by NASA to fly cargo to the space station.<\/span><\/p>\n

Private contractors for the cargo runs became necessary following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

With SpaceX sidelined, NASA said it added extra food, clothing, laptop computers and spacesuit parts to the Cygnus cargo list.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-space-station-orbital-launch-idUSKBN12H2O2<\/span><\/p>\n

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