For the first time in almost two years, the private spaceflight company Orbital ATK on Sunday will launch one of its Antares rockets, after an anomaly on Oct. 28 2014, caused one of the company's rockets to explode seconds after liftoff.

"Our team is absolutely thrilled to be back in the launch operations phase," Kurt Eberly, the Antares department program manager for Orbital ATK, told Space.com. You can watch a webcast of the launch here beginning at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.

In addition to understanding what caused the 2014 anomaly, the Antares team has been working on putting two new engines into the Antares' first stage. Those two RD-181 engines will provide the rocket with additional thrust. [Viewing Guide: How to See the Nighttime Antares Rocket Launch]

The Antares rocket that is scheduled to launch Sunday (Oct. 16) is carrying cargo to the International Space Station in an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft. The delivery is part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services 1 (CRS-1) program; Orbital ATK is one of two companies that hold a contract for CRS-1.

An Orbital ATK Antares rocket carrying the OA-5 Cygnus cargo ship is raised into launch position at Pad 0A at at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Oct. 14, 2016. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Over the last two years, while the Antares rocket has been out of commission, Orbital ATK has flown the Cygnus to the station using an Atlas V rocket, built by United Launch Alliance and flown out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. For Sunday's launch, Orbital will return to the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

"For us it's great to be home again," Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of the Advanced Programs Division at Orbital ATK, told Space.com. DeMauro is also manager of the Cygnus program.

"Just driving down to Wallops, after not having been here for a while — it's back where we belong," he said. "We are just so excited for our launch next week and to move forward."

An Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft is released from the International Space Station using a robotic arm in this image taken on June 14, 2016. (Image credit: ESA/NASA)

Rocket upgrades

Both the Antares rocket and the Cygnus spacecraft have undergone upgrades in the last year.

In December 2015, Orbital ATK (which was created as a merger between Orbital Sciences Corp. and the Aerospace and Defense groups of Alliant Techsystems Inc. or ATK) flew its first "enhanced Cygnus" spacecraft, which provides more storage capacity than the normal version of the craft. In March, the enhanced Cygnus vehicle carried a record-setting 7,900 pounds of cargo to the station. Sunday's flight will be the sixth cargo-delivery mission to the station (the mission is officially titled OA-5, even though the previous cargo flight was titled OA-6). The Cygnus spacecraft can also take care of garbage on the station: after unpacking the vehicle, astronauts load it up with disposable material, and the whole thing falls back toward Earth and burns up in the atmosphere. [Antares Rocket & Cygnus Spacecraft Explained (Infographic)]

Orbital ATK plans to make 10 cargo deliveries as part of its CRS-1 contract with NASA. In January, it was announced that the company had secured a second contract, worth up to $1.5 billion, for CRS-2. (Private spaceflight provider SpaceX also had a contract for CRS-1 and CRS-2; the Sierra Nevada Corp. also secured a delivery contract with NASA for CRS-2).

DeMauro said Orbital ATK plans to launch its remaining CRS-1 cargo missions with the Antares rocket, but the company may change the launch vehicles during CRS-2, "depending on what NASA wants." The company specifically designed the Cygnus to be able to fly aboard different vehicles that that might offer something that the Antares does not.

With its two new RD-181 engines, which are built by the Russian company NPO Energomash, the Antares has "about 13 percent" increase in thrust compared to the previous configuration, Eberly said. That boost is not necessary for the heavier loads carried by the enhanced Cygnus spacecraft — that's taken care of by an earlier upgrade to the rocket's second stage, which is a solid-rocket engine that is built by Orbital ATK. So the increased thrust now available to Antares could create new opportunities for future missions, DeMauro said.

Looking ahead

Right now, the Antares rocket is only being used for launching the Cygnus spacecraft, but Eberly said the company is planning to make bids to launch NASA science missions and commercial satellites into space.

"That's where we see our future," Eberly said.

In order to make a bid with NASA to launch science missions, Orbital ATK will have to demonstrate at least one successful launch with its proposed vehicle, Eberly said. Hopefully, the company will make that demonstration this week.

In addition, Eberly said the Antares team has been working on a configuration of the rocket that would include a small, liquid-propellant third stage that could give the rocket an extra boost to deliver payloads to slightly higher orbits than it is currently capable of. Those higher obits (which are still in the range known as "low-Earth orbit") are "required for a lot of science satellites," Eberly said.

While Antares won't be able to send large payloads beyond low-Earth orbit (even with an additional third stage), Cygnus may go much farther in the future. Orbital ATK has discussed publicly its desire to be involved in plans by NASA to send humans to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, such as around the moon or to Mars. DeMauro said the company is looking at how Cygnus' capabilities could be expanded so that it could not just carry cargo, but serve as an orbiting habitat for astronauts.</s>Published on Oct 17, 2016

On Oct. 17, Orbital ATK launched its Cygnus cargo spacecraft atop an Antares rocket to the International Space Station. The spacecraft launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This is the sixth cargo mission to the International Space Station for Orbital ATK.</s>WASHINGTON: Orbital ATK on Monday blasted off its revamped Antares rocket carrying supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station two years after a major rocket explosion.

The unmanned Cygnus cargo ship launched from Wallops Island, Virginia at 7:45 pm (2345 GMT), packed with some 5,100 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of gear bound for the station’s astronauts living in orbit.

The rocket’s first and second stage portions separated about five minutes after the launch as planned, and the Cygnus cargo ship reached orbit shortly after, according to a live broadcast of the launch on NASA television.

“We have Cygnus spacecraft separation,” an Orbital ATK commentator said amid the sound of applause in mission control.

An Antares rocket exploded in October 2014 just seconds after liftoff, causing some $200 million in damage and lost equipment.

The company blamed the accident on a flaw in the rocket’s engines, designed four decades ago in the Soviet Union.

The new Antares 230 uses a different engine that is more powerful than the prior version.

Orbital ATK resumed cargo missions to the International Space Station in December 2014 using a different rocket, the Atlas V made by United Launch Alliance. AFP</s>The Antares rocket, which was topped with a Cygnus cargo spacecraft, lifted off just before 8 p.m. local time from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

It's expect to arrive at the International Space Station on Sunday when the crew will maneuver it into position.

Cygnus is carrying 5,100 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of cargo for science experiments and supplies for the crew, among other things, according to NASA.

The rocket was built by Orbital ATK, a private aerospace and defense company, and is on its sixth resupply mission for NASA.</s>MIAMI: Orbital ATK is poised to launch an Antares rocket Monday for the first time since a massive explosion after liftoff two years ago en route to the International Space Station.

The new Antares 230 rocket aims to propel an unmanned cargo capsule, called Cygnus, to the orbiting outpost carrying 5,290 pounds (2,400 kilograms) of supplies, food and science experiments.

The launch is scheduled at 7:40 pm (2340 GMT) from Wallops Island, Virginia, the US company said.

The previous Antares rocket exploded in a fireball on October 28, 2014, just seconds after liftoff, destroying the cargo capsule and damaging the launch pad.

After an investigation, Orbital blamed the accident on a flaw in the rocket’s AJ26 engines, which had been made four decades earlier in the former Soviet Union, and were supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The Antares 230 is powered by new RD-181 engines from Russian manufacturer NPO Energomash.

“These engines have flown in slightly different variations on other rockets,” said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK, in a news conference Saturday.

Since the blast, the launchpad has been rebuilt at a cost of $15 million, and the rocket has been overhauled to be more powerful.

“So yeah, we are always nervous, but I am extremely confident in this team and in this hardware,” he told reporters, adding he was “optimistic” about a successful launch.

The weather forecast was 100 percent favorable for Monday, according to NASA, the US space agency.

The launch was initially planned for Thursday, October 13, but was rescheduled a few times.

A liftoff for Sunday was scratched due to a ground support cable that “did not perform as expected during the pre-launch checkout,” the company said in a statement.

In December 2014, Orbital resumed cargo missions to space as part of a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.

But instead of the Antares rocket, the company used a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to propel the cargo to space from a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

After the 2014 blast, the Cygnus cargo ship was changed to be able to carry a larger payload.

Monday could mark the third such flight of a similarly improved Cygnus vehicle, with new solar arrays and fuel tanks.

The cargo ship is carrying food and supplies for the six-member astronaut crew in orbit, including science experiments to test the behavior of fire in space.

In addition to Orbital ATK, US company SpaceX is engaged in a contract with NASA to supply the space station, using its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship.

SpaceX, too, has suffered explosions after launch, including one in June 2015 that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo ship headed to the space station, and a blast last month that blew up a Falcon 9 rocket and its Israeli satellite during a routine launchpad test.

The 30-year US space shuttle program was retired in 2011, leaving the United States no program for reaching space.

For now, the world’s astronauts must purchase seats aboard Russia’s Soyuz spaceships at a cost of some $71 million per seat.

Orbital and SpaceX, however, can ship cargo to orbit.

NASA has also signed contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to begin launching astronauts to space in the next two years. -AFP</s>This image provided by NASA shows the Orbital ATK Antares rocket is rolled to launch pad Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. Orbital ATK's sixth contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver over 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The launch of the rocket is scheduled for Sunday Oct. 16.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A bad cable delayed a rocket launch from Virginia on Sunday by a NASA shipper eager to make a strong comeback.

Orbital ATK was poised to fly its Antares rocket with a load of supplies for the International Space Station, after being grounded for two years. But seven hours before the planned liftoff, NASA announced the flight was off until Monday night.

The cable - part of ground support equipment at the Wallops Island launch complex - will be replaced.

This will be the first launch of the unmanned Antares rocket since one exploded shortly after liftoff in October 2014 on a station supply run for NASA. Orbital ATK replaced the Russian-built engines and made other changes to the rocket. In addition, the launch pad had to be rebuilt.

NASA is paying Orbital ATK as well as the SpaceX company to deliver cargo to the station. SpaceX is currently grounded, meanwhile, because of a launch pad explosion last month.

If the Cygnus supply ship launches Monday, it likely would hang out in orbit for several days before arriving at the space station. That's because of a crew launch from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which takes priority. Three astronauts will join the three already at the orbiting outpost.

The Cygnus - named after the swan constellation - has the ability to loiter in orbit for a few weeks, even a month if necessary, before joining the space station.

Monday's liftoff would be at 7:40 p.m. Weather permitting, the launch should be visible along much of the East Coast, including Washington, New York and Boston.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — One of NASA's main delivery companies made a triumphant comeback seen up and down the East Coast on Monday night, launching its first space station shipment from Virginia since a rocket explosion two years ago.

It was the first flight of Orbital ATK's unmanned Antares rocket since the Oct. 28, 2014, blast that wrecked the pad and destroyed everything on the space station supply run.

The launch provided a show for sky gazers along much of the East Coast. Reports poured in via Twitter from observers in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and even Raleigh, North Carolina.

For Antares' long-awaited return, the pad underwent a $15 million restoration, and the rocket got new Russian engines to replace the vintage ones from a half-century earlier.

As the Antares streaked through the night sky from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, it appeared as though all the work had paid off. Launch controllers applauded when the supply ship reached orbit and victory was declared.

"It is great to be back," said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK's space systems group.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden described the launch as "magnificent" and personally thanked the Orbital ATK team.

"It's been a very difficult two years, and I can't imagine what those of you in the Orbital team went through. I can't imagine how long you were holding your breath tonight," Bolden told the launch control crowd. "But you know, we made it and that's what's all important."

Getting a lift from the Antares was Orbital ATK's Cygnus capsule, loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and research, including some experiments to study flames in space and the robotic toy ball Sphero, part of an educational effort.

The Cygnus — named after the swan constellation — will have to hang around in orbit until Sunday before delivering the goods. That's because three astronauts are awaiting launch from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which would get them to the space station on Friday. NASA wants the new crew to settle in before the Cygnus pulls up.

This will be the sixth Cygnus to arrive at the orbiting outpost since 2013. While the Antares was being redesigned, Orbital ATK made good on two deliveries using another company's rockets flying from Cape Canaveral.

NASA's other commercial shipper, SpaceX, has made nine station deliveries since 2012, but is currently grounded, pending an investigation into last month's rocket explosion during prelaunch testing at Cape Canaveral.

Given the riskiness of space flight, Culbertson and other Orbital ATK officials expressed nervousness before the launch, but said they had full confidence in the rocket. Although it took longer to resume flights at Wallops than expected, he noted, "it was done right, and that was the most important thing."

NASA has been relying on Orbital ATK and SpaceX to keep the space station stocked ever since the shuttles retired in 2011.

Next up will be private flights for the station crews, as the space agency works on getting astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

SpaceX and Boeing are building capsules to carry U.S. astronauts to the 250-mile-high station; those launches are expected in the next couple of years. Until then, NASA will keep flying its astronauts on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.

The space station is currently home to an American, a Russian and a third astronaut from Japan. They will be joined by an American and two Russians.

Orbital ATK weathered brief hurricane delays over the past 1½ weeks, then a bad cable at the pad on Sunday bumped the launch by a day.</s>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A bad cable delayed a rocket launch from Virginia on Sunday by a NASA shipper eager to make a strong comeback.

Orbital ATK was poised to fly its Antares rocket with a load of supplies for the International Space Station, after being grounded for two years. But seven hours before the planned liftoff, NASA announced the flight was off until Monday night.

The cable — part of ground support equipment at the Wallops Island launch complex — will be replaced.

This will be the first launch of the unmanned Antares rocket since one exploded shortly after liftoff in October 2014 on a station supply run for NASA. Orbital ATK replaced the Russian-built engines and made other changes to the rocket. In addition, the launch pad had to be rebuilt.

NASA is paying Orbital ATK as well as the SpaceX company to deliver cargo to the station. SpaceX is currently grounded, meanwhile, because of a launch pad explosion last month.

If the Cygnus supply ship launches Monday, it likely would hang out in orbit for several days before arriving at the space station. That’s because of a crew launch from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which takes priority. Three astronauts will join the three already at the orbiting outpost.

The Cygnus — named after the swan constellation — has the ability to loiter in orbit for a few weeks, even a month if necessary, before joining the space station.

Monday’s liftoff would be at 7:40 p.m. Weather permitting, the launch should be visible along much of the East Coast, including Washington, New York and Boston.</s>The 14-story-tall rocket, powered by a pair of new Russian-made engines, blasted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, at 7:45 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT), a NASA TV broadcast showed. Launch was delayed five minutes to resolve a minor glitch with the rocket, according to NASA commentator Brandi Dean.

The rocket carried a Cygnus capsule loaded with 5,290 pounds (2,400 kg) of food, supplies, equipment and science experiments for the space station, a $100 billion laboratory in orbit about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

The capsule is expected to reach the station on Sunday after lingering several days in orbit to allow time for a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three new crew members to reach the outpost on Friday. The Soyuz is slated to launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The last Antares launch, on Oct. 28, 2014, ended in disaster a few seconds after liftoff due to a problem with the booster's refurbished, Soviet-era engines. After the accident, Orbital sped up plans to replace the motors.

During the downtime, Orbital bought rides for two Cygnus cargo ships aboard Atlas rockets, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

Orbital conducted a 30-second engine test firing of the Antares at the Virginia launch pad on May 31, but had never flown the refurbished rocket before Monday.

The mission became more crucial for the U.S. space agency after a Sept. 1 accident destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX and a $200 million Israeli communications satellite.

The accident, which occurred while the rocket was being fueled for a routine prelaunch test, has temporarily grounded SpaceX, the only company apart from Orbital currently contracted by NASA to fly cargo to the space station.

Private contractors for the cargo runs became necessary following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

With SpaceX sidelined, NASA said it added extra food, clothing, laptop computers and spacesuit parts to the Cygnus cargo list.

Orbital is counting on a smooth Antares launch to help attract other customers for the rocket besides NASA.</s>The Antares, now outfitted with a pair of Russian-made engines, is scheduled to blast off at 7:40 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT) from a repaired launch pad on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Perched on top of the rocket is a Cygnus cargo ship loaded with 5,290 pounds (2,400 kg) of food, supplies, equipment and science experiments for the space station, a $100 billion laboratory in orbit about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

"We've missed these guys," Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy station manager, told reporters during a prelaunch press conference on Saturday, referring to the Antares team.

The mission became more crucial for the U.S. space agency after a Sept. 1 accident destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX and a $200 million Israeli communications satellite.

The accident, which occurred while the rocket was being fueled for a routine prelaunch test, has temporarily grounded SpaceX, the only company apart from Orbital currently contracted by NASA to fly cargo to the space station.

Private contractors for the cargo runs became necessary following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

With SpaceX sidelined, NASA added extra food, clothing, laptop computers and spacesuit parts to the Cygnus cargo list, Montalbano said.

The last launch of an Antares rocket, on Oct. 28, 2014, ended in disaster a few seconds after liftoff. After the accident, Orbital sped up plans to replace the rocket's Soviet-era engines with the new Russian-made motors.

During the downtime, Orbital bought rides for two Cygnus cargo ships aboard Atlas rockets, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

Orbital conducted a 30-second engine test firing of the Antares at the Virginia launch pad on May 31.

"We're always nervous, but we wouldn't have a rocket out there if we weren't confident we were ready to go," Orbital vice president Mike Pinkston told reporters on Saturday.

Orbital is counting on a smooth Antares launch to help attract other customers for the rocket besides NASA. The booster, designed to put up to about 17,000 pounds (8,000 kg) into orbit close to Earth, flew four times successfully before the 2014 failure.
Orbital ATK Antares 230 rocket launches carrying an unmanned resupply spacecraft, the Cygnus CRS OA-5 cargo ship, to the International Space Station from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission returns the Antares rocket to flight after an anomaly on October 28, 2014, caused an Antares-series rocket to explode seconds after liftoff.