Orbital Sciences was contracted under COTS in 2008.
Founded in 1982, Orbital was a world leader in space and launch systems. They were headquartered in Dulles,
Virginia and had 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.
On 9 February 2015, Orbital Sciences Corporation merged with Alliance Techsystems to form Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK was then purchased by Northrop Grumman and on
6 June 2018 became Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.
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 Virginia Wallops Flight Facility
Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Click to enlarge)
