Last week Firefly completed a test fire of its Miranda engine that will be used on its Medium Launch Vehicle and Northrop Grumman‘s Antares 330 rocket. This was a first for the company and a quick one as the company only signed the contract from Northrop just over one year ago.
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Yesterday evening, Northrop Grumman successfully launched its final Antares 220+ rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. The NG-19 mission carried Northrop’s Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station, transporting essential supplies such as food, experiments, and other cargo for the crew.
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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, we have been following how it will affect Northrop Grumman’s capability to launch its Antares rocket. Northrop Grumman has finally announced its solution to unavailable components in a partnership with Firefly Aerospace to supply engines and a new first stage to the Antares 330 rocket.
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On Saturday, February 19, Northrop Grumman launched an Antares 230+ rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The rocket carried a Cygnus spacecraft, S.S. Piers Sellers, which has since joined up with the International Space Station.
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A Northrop Grumman Antares 230+ is set to launch a Cygnus resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on February 19, 2022, at 12:40 p.m. EST. This Cygnus vehicle is named after former astronaut Piers Sellers.
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SpaceX has acquired two new ships to work on fairing recovery, Starliner will be destacked from Atlas, and a Cygnus spacecraft launched to the ISS.
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Today Northrop Grumman plans to launch their 16th Cygnus spacecraft from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) for NASA. Today’s mission will see an Antares rocket launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will deliver over 3,000 pounds of food, experiments, and other supplies to the station for its crew to use. The spacecraft will also conduct experiments on its way to and after departing the space station.
Date: Tuesday, August 10th at 6:01 p.m. EDT
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Since 2012 SpaceX and Northrop Grumman (then Orbital ATK) have been providing supplies to the International Space Station. The first CRS contract brought us rockets like the Antares and Falcon 9 and without this funding, neither would exist. Today NASA continues that venture to build up the private space sector with the CRS-2 contract.
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October 1, 2020: Scrubbed two minutes before liftoff due to off nominal data. Next attempt as soon as 24 hours later.
Following Delta IV Heavy and Falcon 9 launch scrubs, a third rocket is scheduled for liftoff from the East Coast of the United States this week. Northrop Grumman will launch its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Wallops Island in Virginia between 9:38 and 9:43 p.m. ET tonight.
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