Orbital ATK launches cargo into space aboard Antares rocket

Orbital ATK Inc. successfully launched an Antares rocket carrying cargo destined for the worldwide space station, almost two years after a catastrophic failure grounded the booster pending a major redesign.

An Antares rocket malfunctioned upon launch in October 2014, after which its operators chose to deliberately detonate the rocket.

Maximum elevation, in degrees, that the Antares rocket will be visible above the horizon depending on your location. Orbital ATK spent the past two years redesigning the unmanned rocket – replacing the old-time Russian engines with newer ones, among other things – and rebuilding the launch pad.

NASA wants to hear details and see photos on its Wallops Flight Facility Facebook and Twitter accounts from who see the launch, in a bid to refine the visibility maps for launches from Wallops Island.

At the time, the setback touched off a wave of concern about the company and NASA, which relies on the commercial sector to fly cargo to the station.

Equally important, if not more so, the Antares launch marked a major milestone for Orbital ATK and NASA, coming nearly exactly two years after the last Antares exploded seconds into flight on October 28, 2014. “I’m very happy to see Antares back”, said Amanda Davis, Orbital’s director of program engineering.

NASA TV coverage begins at 7:00 pm ET of the launch of Orbital ATK’s Commercial Resupply Services-5 (OA-5) mission, but it also should be visible to the naked eye from New England to SC and as far west as Charleston, WV. The launch is now set for 7:40 PM ET on Monday.

SpaceX and Boeing are supposed to start ferrying astronauts to the space station in the next year or two.

Cygnus successfully separated from the Antares rocket and its Russian-made RD-180 engines minutes after takeoff.

It was unclear when the “S.S. Alan Poindexter” Cygnus spacecraft will rendezvous with the space station.

Before the launch, Amanda Davis, of Orbital ATK, said that preparation had been going smoothly: “Everyone is feeling really good about today”.

The Antares rocket’s old AJ26 engines produced less thrust, equivalent to around 730,000 force-pounds, and burned around 25 seconds longer. Investigators blamed a failed strut assembly on the rocket’s upper stage.

NASA reported the explosion also caused significant damage to the launch pad.

The spacecraft will carry food, supplies, provisions and emergency equipment for the ISS crew, as well as the Spacecraft Fire Experiment-II or Saffire-II that will study the behavior of combustion in microgravity.