Follow the key events of the Antares rocket’s ascent into orbit from launch pad 0A at Wallops Island, Va., carrying a Cygnus supply ship with cargo for the International Space Station.
T+0:00:00: Main Engine Ignition
The Antares rocket’s two AJ26 engines ignite on the launch pad.
T+0:00:02.1: Liftoff
Producing about 730,000 pounds of thrust, the rocket’s two main engines propel the 139-foot-tall Antares rocket into the sky.
T+0:03:54: Main Engine Cutoff
After consuming its supply of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants, the Antares first stage shuts down at an altitude of about 62 miles.
T+0:04:00: Stage Separation
The first stage separates from the second stage, which begins a 41-second coast phase.
T+0:04:29: Fairing Jettison
After flying out of the dense lower atmosphere, the Antares rocket jettisons its clamshell-like 12.8-foot-diameter payload fairing.
T+0:04:34: Interstage Jettison
The interstage adapter connecting the first and second stages is jettisoned.
T+0:04:41: Second Stage Ignition
The rocket’s solid-fueled Castor 30XL second stage ignites at an altitude of 87 miles, ramping up to a maximum power of 120,000 pounds of thrust during a 166-second burn.
T+0:07:27: Second Stage Burnout
The Castor 30XL second stage burns out after reaching a target orbit with a perigee of 128 miles, an apogee of 183 miles, and an inclination of 51.64 degrees.
T+0:09:27: Cygnus Separation
The Antares rocket’s second stage deploys the Cygnus spacecraft in orbit.
Less than a week after publishing the results of an independent investigation into last year’s Antares rocket failure, NASA has released new photos of the catastrophic crash just after liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia.
An Orbital ATK investigation into last year’s Antares rocket crash in Virginia identified a decades-old manufacturing defect inside an AJ26 engine turbopump as the most likely cause of the failure, but a team of NASA engineers was not so sure in their report.
An Orbital Sciences Antares rocket exploded seconds after launch from the Virginia coast Tuesday, erupting in a spectacular fireball and destroying the company’s third operational Cygnus cargo ship in a disheartening failure for NASA’s commercial space station resupply program.
