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| [PHOTO: NASA] |
Wallops Island, Virginia: NASA commercial partner Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va.,
successfully conducted an engine test of its Antares rocket Friday at the
nation's newest launch pad.
The company fired
dual AJ26 rocket engines for the full duration 29 seconds while the rocket was
bolted down on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A at NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Known as a "hot fire"
test, it demonstrated the readiness of the rocket's first stage and launch pad
fueling systems to support upcoming test flights.
"This pad test
is an important reminder of how strong and diverse the commercial space
industry is in our nation," said Phil McAlister, director of Commercial
Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "A little more
than one year after the retirement of the space shuttle, we had a U.S company
resupplying the International Space Station. Now, another is taking the next
critical steps to launch from America's newest gateway to low-Earth Orbit.
Today marks significant progress for Orbital, MARS and the NASA team."
Orbital is building
and testing its new rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft under NASA's Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. A demonstration flight of
Antares and Cygnus to the space station is planned for later this year. After
the successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission to the station,
Orbital will begin conducting eight planned cargo resupply flights to the
orbiting laboratory through NASA's $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services
contract with the company.