Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences was contracted under COTS in 2008.
Founded in 1982, Orbital is a world leader in space and launch systems. They are headquartered in Dulles, Virginia and have operations in Arizona, California, Maryland, and Virginia. Selected in 2006 for NASA's COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services), Orbital is under contract to provide eight resupply missions to the ISS between 2012 and 2015.
Being developed for this service is an advanced maneuvering space vehicle called Cygnus™. The Cygnus is composed of a service module incorporating avionics, propulsion and power systems proven in Orbital's existing satellite products, and a pressurized cargo module based upon the previous Multi-Purpose Logistics Module originally developed by Thales Alenia Space for NASA. The first launch took place on 18 September 2013.
An artists rendering of the Cygnus spacecraft
Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Click to enlarge)
A related but separate development is the Antares™ launch vehicle. Antares is a two stage vehicle, expandable to three stages, capable of launching multiple payloads to low earth orbit. Initially, launches will take place from the Wallops Flight Facility, but Antares will also be qualified to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base (California) or Cape Canaveral (Florida).
Antares at the Virgina Wallops Flight Facility
Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Click to enlarge)
Note: Cygnus and Antartes are registered trademarks of Orbital Sciences Corporation.
| Craft | Launch Date | Launch Time | Initial Dock Date | Inital Dock Time | Final Undock Date | Final Undock Time | Reentry Date | Reentry Time | Station | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cygnus 1 | 18 September 2013 | 14:58:00 | 29 September 2013 | 12:44:00 | 22 October 2013 | 10:16:00 | 23 October 2013 | 18:15:00 | ISS | Demo flight Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm.(Undock time NLT approximatio |
| Orb-1 | 9 January 2014 | 18:07:00 | 12 January 2014 | 13:05:00 | 18 February 2014 | 10:15:00 | 19 February 2014 | 18:20:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
| Orb-2 | 13 July 2014 | 16:52:00 | 16 July 2014 | 12:53:00 | 15 August 2014 | 09:14:00 | 17 August 2014 | 13:11:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
| Orb-3 | 28 October 2014 | 21:22:40 | 28 October 2014 | 21:22:55 | ISS | Vehicle exploded about 15 seconds after liftoff | ||||
| OA-4 | 6 December 2015 | 21:44:47 | 9 December 2015 | 14:26:00 | 19 February 2016 | 10:38:00 | 20 February 2016 | 16:00:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
| OA-6 | 22 March 2016 | 03:05:20 | 26 March 2016 | 14:52:00 | 14 June 2016 | 11:43:00 | 22 June 2016 | 13:05:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
| OA-5 | 17 October 2016 | 23:45:36 | 23 October 2016 | 14:53:00 | 21 November 2016 | 13:22:00 | 27 November 2016 | 23:40:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm; Undock time actually release time |
| OA-7 | 18 April 2017 | 15:11:27 | 22 April 2017 | 12:39:00 | 4 June 2017 | 11:05:00 | ISS | Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm |
| Name | Launch Date |
|---|---|
| Cygnus OA-8E | September 2017 |
| Cygnus OA-9E | March 2018 |
| Cygnus OA-10E | October 2018 |
| Cygnus OA-11 | February 2019 |
