Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., Friday rolled out its Antares rocket and Cygnus Spacecraft to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. The Antares is scheduled to launch Cygnus at 11:16 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 17 on a demonstration cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Orbital is building and testing its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Following a successful demonstration mission, Orbital is poised to begin eight cargo flights contracted by NASA to resupply the station. Future flights of Cygnus will significantly increase NASA’s ability to deliver new science investigations to the nation’s only laboratory in microgravity.
