International Team Preparing Taurus-2 for First Flight

Launch complexes on Wallops Island, Virginia

In an op-ed in the Virginian-Pilot, Jack Kennedy points out how international the team is that is building and assembling Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Taurus-2 rocket, which is set to launch out of Wallops Island next year:

Several Ukrainian national rocket engineers will be working there to help build the first stage of the Taurus-2 booster rocket, which is set to take flight from Wallops Island next April. The internationally made Taurus-2 with the Cygnus spacecraft will transport cargo to the orbiting International Space Station. It should be the first of many launches.

Orbiting commercial payload will become a feat of international cooperation and global business acumen. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles has built a team of suppliers being integrated into one of the more capable producers of mid-sized booster rockets in the world. The team consists of Americans, Ukrainians, Russians, Italians, Canadians, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Germans and Japanese….

Hundreds of jobs are being created by the $1.9 billion commercial space launch project, and many of those are within Virginia. It is a unique beginning expected to yield more direct and indirect benefits to citizens of the region, to Virginia and Maryland, and to the nation as a whole.

Kennedy has posted a PDF version of the op-ed. The newspaper doesn’t publish editorial pieces online.