October 24, 2025
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Breaking News
  • [ October 24, 2025 ] Airbus, Leonardo and Thales agree to form new European company News
  • [ October 23, 2025 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to expend Falcon 9 booster to launch Spainsat NG 2 communications satellite Falcon 9
  • [ October 22, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on 550th Falcon 9 mission Falcon 9
  • [ October 18, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Falcon 9
  • [ October 18, 2025 ] SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket on record-breaking 31st flight Falcon 9

AJ26

Antares Launcher

Key events during the Antares rocket’s climb to orbit

October 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will deliver the commercial Cygnus supply ship to an orbit with an altitude between 130 miles and 179 miles within about nine minutes of liftoff from Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Antares Launcher

NASA quietly posts images of explosive Antares failure

November 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

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.

Antares Launcher

Two Antares failure probes produce different results

November 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

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.

News

Workers complete $15 million in repairs to Antares launch pad

October 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Repair crews in Virginia have restored the Antares booster’s launch pad — damaged in an explosive rocket crash nearly one year ago — to flight-ready status as the Orbital ATK launcher moves toward a return-to-flight in 2016.

News

RD-181 engines prepared for shipment to U.S.

June 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first pair of RD-181 rocket engines set to launch on Orbital ATK’s redesigned Antares rocket are in the final stages of acceptance testing in Russia ahead of their export to the United States in early July, officials said.

Antares Launcher

Orbital ATK targets resumption of Antares launches in March 2016

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

Space station resupply missions launched from Virginia are set to resume in March 2016, after Orbital ATK integrates newly-built rocket engines into the Ukrainian-made booster stage of the company’s commercial Antares rocket and puts it through an on-pad test firing in January.

Antares Launcher

Orbital Sciences signs contract for new Antares engines

January 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

Orbital Sciences Corp. and Energia have signed a contract worth approximately $1 billion for up to 60 Russian-made RD-181 rocket engines to power the redesigned first stage of the commercial Antares launcher.

News Headlines

  • Airbus, Leonardo and Thales agree to form new European company
    October 24, 2025
  • Live coverage: SpaceX to expend Falcon 9 booster to launch Spainsat NG 2 communications satellite
    October 23, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on 550th Falcon 9 mission
    October 22, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg
    October 18, 2025
  • SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket on record-breaking 31st flight
    October 18, 2025
  • Orion spacecraft arrives at VAB ahead of stacking for Artemis 2
    October 17, 2025
  • SpaceX sends 28 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit in predawn launch
    October 15, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 2nd batch of satellites for Space Development Agency following weather scrub
    October 14, 2025
  • Rocket Lab launches 7th StriX Earth observation satellites for Japan-based Synspective
    October 14, 2025
  • SpaceX launches final Version 2 Starship-Super Heavy rocket
    October 14, 2025
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