Mary-Louise Hoffman
Orbital ATK has bought two United Launch Alliance-built rockets to deliver supplies to the International Space Station for NASA in December and in early 2016, Space News reported Tuesday.
Dan Leone writes the Atlas V launch system would help Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft deliver approximately 7,716 pounds of pressurized cargo to ISS.
ULA, a Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture, manufactures the rocket and Lockheed’s commercial launch services unit markets it.
Orbital ATK provides NASA with cargo resupply services under a $1.9 billion contract and company is scheduled to assist the agency in at least three CRS missions next year, according to Space News.
Reuters reports Orbital ATK decided to replace the primary engine of its Antares rocket after the Oct. 28 explosion of a Cygnus-carrying Atlas as it launched from Wallops Island, Virginia.
The refurbished Antares would have the RD-181 engine and be used for another 2016 resupply mission, according to Irene Klotz’s report for Reuters.
