Orbital Sciences [ORB] and NASA Sunday successfully launched the company’s Antares medium-class rocket as part of its Orb-2 Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station (ISS), according to a company statement.
Launch took place Sunday at 12:52 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility (WFF) on the eastern shore of Virginia. Following a 10-minute ascent, the Cygnus spacecraft was successfully deployed and placed into its intended orbit of 120×180 miles above the earth, inclined at 51.6 degrees to the equator. Orbital said its engineering team confirmed that reliable communications had been established and that the solar arrays are fully deployed, providing the necessary electrical power to command the spacecraft.
Cygnus will rendezvous and berth with ISS on Wednesday at around 6:39 a.m. EDT, delivering 3,669 pounds of cargo to astronauts. Cygnus will remain attached to ISS for approximately 30 days before departing with approximately 2,950 pounds of disposable cargo. Cygnus is scheduled for destructive re-entry into earth’s atmosphere by July 21. Orbital said on its
Twitter feed it would have a rendezvous and docking update Wednesday.
Orbital CEO David Thompson said Sunday in a statement that Orb-2 was the fourth successful launch of Antares in the past 15 months and the third deployment of Cygnus in less than a year. Thompson added Orb-2 was Orbital’s second out of eight total CRS missions it will perform for NASA through 2016. NASA in 2008 awarded Orbital and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) contracts for CRS, which is to prepare and certify spacecraft for eventual human-rated spaceflight. Orbital’s contract is worth approximately $1.9 billion while SpaceX’s is worth about $1.6 billion, according to a NASA statement.
ATK [ATK] provided the second stage Castor 30B motor for Sunday’s launch, according to a company statement. The company’s Castor 30XL motor will replace the Castor 30/30B motors on future Antares launches, enabling Antares to carry more cargo.
NASA has issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the CRS follow-on mission CRS-2, according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). A presolicitation conference is scheduled for around Aug. 7 while the final RFP is expected to be released around Sept. 30. NASA expects a proposal due date of around Nov. 14.
NASA said it may elect to award multiple contracts for CRS-2 with a minimum of six missions for any awarded contract. The total maximum value of any contract awarded will be $14 billion while the total amount of all task orders under all contracts awarded shall not exceed $14 billion. Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said Monday the company would bid for CRS-2, but he declined to specify what Orbital would offer. Sierra Nevada (SNC) said Monday in a statement it is evaluating the opportunity. SpaceX did not respond to requests by press time. Lockheed Martin [LMT] spokeswoman Allison Rakes said Monday the company is evaluating the requirements, but has not made a decision on whether to bid.
Boeing [BA] spokesman Adam Morgan said the company is interested in NASA’s CRS-2 contract, but declined to elaborate further.