Author Topic: Orbital's Antares/Cygnus ORB-3 (CRS-3) Oct. 27, 2014 pre-launch updates  (Read 32525 times)

Offline Chris Bergin

Orbital’s Orb-3 CRS Mission Update:

October 22

Following an inspection of the tracking station in Bermuda used for Antares launches after Hurricane Gonzalo, Orbital and NASA together have established October 27 as the launch date for the upcoming Orb-3 Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station (ISS).  The mission will originate from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.  Lift-off of the Antares rocket is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. (EDT), with rendezvous and berthing with the ISS early in the morning on November 2. Taking advantage of Cygnus' operational capabilities, Orbital is launching the Orb-3 mission to orbit several days earlier than necessary to preserve schedule flexibility and time its arrival at the station to conform to other visiting vehicle operations.

The Cygnus spacecraft is fully fueled and loaded with most of its cargo bound for the ISS and has been mated with the Antares rocket that will launch it into low-Earth orbit. The remaining time sensitive “final load” cargo will be placed onboard tomorrow, prior to fairing encapsulation, which is also scheduled for tomorrow. On Friday, October 24, the Antares rocket will be rolled out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to the MARS launch pad 0A located about a mile away.

In addition, Orbital has named the Cygnus spacecraft for the Orb-3 mission the SS Deke Slayton in honor of the decorated U.S. Air Force pilot, NASA astronaut, and early champion of America’s commercial space program. For more about Deke Slayton, please click here.
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Offline jacqmans

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October 22, 2014

NASA Television Coverage Set for Orbital Resupply Mission to Space Station

Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch its next mission to resupply the International Space Station Monday, Oct. 27, and NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of the event, including pre- and post-launch briefings and arrival at the station.
 
Orbital's Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 6:45 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Launch Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch coverage begins at 5:45 p.m.

A prelaunch status briefing will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, followed at 2 p.m. by a briefing to preview the mission's science cargo. A post-launch briefing will be held approximately 90 minutes after liftoff.

Media who wish to ask questions remotely during the briefing must respond to Rachel Kraft at [email protected] no later than 30 minutes before the start of each briefing. The public may submit questions via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

Cygnus will transport almost 5,000 pounds of supplies, including science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and experiment hardware. It will arrive at the station Sunday, Nov. 2. Expedition 41 crew members Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore of NASA will be ready in the station’s cupola to capture the resupply craft with the station's robotic arm and install it on the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module.

NASA TV coverage of capture and installation will begin at 3:30 a.m. Nov. 2, followed by grapple at 4:58 a.m. Coverage of the installation of Cygnus onto the International Space Station will begin at 7 a.m. The capsule is scheduled to depart the station Wednesday, Dec. 3, and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere during reentry.

Continuing the tradition of naming its spacecraft after astronauts who have made significant contributions to spaceflight, Orbital dubbed this Cygnus resupply ship the SS Deke Slayton. The name is a tribute to original Mercury 7 astronaut Donald “Deke” K. Slayton, who flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission in 1975 and championed commercial space endeavors after retiring from NASA in 1982. Slayton passed away in 1993.

This mission is the third of eight Orbital flights NASA contracted with the company to resupply the space station, and the fourth trip by a Cygnus spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory.

For a full media schedule and more information about the Orbital CRS-3 mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

For video b-roll and media resources on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stationnews

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

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Jacques :-)

Offline Lewis007

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The Antares rocket has been rolled out to the launchpad.
A few more pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/sets/72157648942817271/

Offline Lewis007

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The Cygnus cargo cargo ship was encapsulated on Oct 23.
Credit: NASA Wallops facebook


Offline Chris Bergin

Will be a live thread for this, obviously - but NASA TV just showed a live view of Antares and Cygnus on the pad!
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Offline edkyle99

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Here's a side by side comparison of a previous Antares 120 (Orb 1 mission) with the first Antares 130 for Orb 3.

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 10/25/2014 05:07 pm by edkyle99 »

Offline rayleighscatter

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Two interstage sections instead of one larger one?

WFF is predicting 98% of acceptable weather on Monday.

Offline edkyle99

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Two interstage sections instead of one larger one?
Yes.  Pretty clever planning, since it allows for this planned upgrade using existing parts.  Note also that the transporter/erector looks different.

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 10/25/2014 05:07 pm by edkyle99 »

Online AnalogMan

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Online catdlr

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Encapsulation:

Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline russianhalo117

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Two interstage sections instead of one larger one?
Yes.  Pretty clever planning, since it allows for this planned upgrade using existing parts.  Note also that the transporter/erector looks different.

 - Ed Kyle
yep, I wonder if they require different TELs for Antares-110/120 and Antares-130. or is the forward end with the a/c Mast swappable??

Offline rayleighscatter

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Yes.  Pretty clever planning, since it allows for this planned upgrade using existing parts. 
 - Ed Kyle
That's true, I wonder if a modular interstage like that also gives flexibility for their proposed third stages.

And fingers crossed that with a new alteration on the vehicle we get some of those great camera views back from the first flight.

Offline arachnitect

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Quote from: @OrbitalSciences

Launch Readiness Review is complete, weather is 98% go &we aren't working any issues. Looking good for launch tomorrow! #Orb3 #Antares


and a photo from @NASA

Offline Prober

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Heads up
2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

Offline Prober

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2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

Offline jcm

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Suggestion in the press conference that there are cubesats aboard Orb-3, but no details - I would have
thought that given the Nanoracks deployer problems the most they would be doing this time is launching replacement
deployers for the ones already on ISS, and even that seems  sooner than I would expect.

Anyone know for sure?
-----------------------------

Jonathan McDowell
http://planet4589.org

Offline Prober

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1 for you Ed

2 1/2 meter added
« Last Edit: 10/26/2014 06:27 pm by Prober »
2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

Offline Prober

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couple more...
2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

Offline Prober

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« Last Edit: 10/26/2014 06:26 pm by Prober »
2017 - Everything Old is New Again.
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." --Isoroku Yamamoto

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