Antares during its first flight. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

DULLES, VA, 21 April 2013 (Orbital PR) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today completed a successful test launch of its new Antares™ rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.

Lift-off took place at 5:00 p.m. (EDT) followed by payload separation approximately 10 minutes later and mission completion at about 18 minutes after launch, once the rocket’s upper stage completed planned maneuvers to distance itself from the payload. The test flight demonstrated all operational aspects of the new Antares launcher, including the ascent to space and accurate delivery of a simulated payload to a target orbit of approximately 150 by 160 miles, with an inclination of 51.6 degrees, the same launch profile it will use for Orbital’s upcoming cargo supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.

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Video of the first Antares launch.

Orbital Sciences Corporation has successfully launched its first Antares rocket. The launch vehicle took off at 5 p.m. EDT from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia. It successfully placed a mass simulator for the Cygnus cargo freight into low Earth orbit. The flight seems to have gone as planned. If so, the mission paves the way for a demonstration flight of the Cygnus freighter to the International Space […]

CCP Spotlight on Development Via NASA Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is planning for a detailed safety review with NASA and aerospace industry experts to ensure the company’s integrated human space transportation system is progressing to meet mission safety requirements. Teams will look closely at SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon spacecraft and flight operations plans for crewed missions to low-Earth orbit during this ninth Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) performance milestone. […]

EVRY, FRANCE (Arianespace PR) — The Board of Directors of Arianespace today named Stéphane Israël Chairman and CEO of the company, effective Monday, April 22, 2013.

Stéphane Israël, born in 1971, was appointed as a judge in the French Court of Auditors in 2001 after graduating from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). While in this position, he participated in missions concerning French space policy and the Ariane launch system. He moved to the aerospace industry in 2007, first as advisor to Louis Gallois, Chief Executive Officer of EADS, then holding various operational management positions at Astrium Space Transportation and Astrium Services.

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PARIS (Astrium PR) – Astrium, Europe’s leading space technology company, has been awarded a study contract by the French space agency CNES. The study will analyse existing concepts and technologies and determine which can be used to successfully tackle large items of space debris, such as launcher stages and end of life satellites.

Entitled “The development of concepts and technologies for handling space debris”, the study is being conducted as part of the CNES’ Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) programme. It will help define the parameters necessary for developing suitable space vehicle concepts through a two-step approach named OTV-DEMO/X technological demonstrator, followed by a system demonstrator known as OTV-DEMO/Y.

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FREDERICA, DE (ILC Dover PR) — ILC Dover, the designer and manufacturer of NASA’s space suits and a wide range of engineered film and fabric products, announced today it was awarded an 18 month contract to design, manufacture and test the next generation of NASA’s Spacesuits – the Z-2. The new suit, designed for enhanced spacewalk capability, will operate at higher pressure levels than previous models, which will greatly improve exploration work efficiency.

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Dan Leone at Space News has a great update on plans by the B612 Foundation to launch its $450 million Sentinel asteroid-hunting telescope:

B612 plans to launch Sentinel in 2017 or 2018 aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Falcon 9 rocket, possibly as a secondary payload, according to Troeltzsch.

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Dulles, VA, 20 April 2013 (Orbital PR) – Orbital Sciences Corporation, one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that excessive, high-altitude wind speeds prevented the planned April 20 launch attempt of the Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. “Given the winds and wind direction, the debris requirement for the Range and Federal Aviation Administration […]

AMERSFOORT, April 19th 2013 (Mars One PR) –– Mars One will launch its Astronaut Selection Program on the 22nd of April 2013 at a press conference in New York. The event will be streamed live on YouTube.

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