Orbital Sciences to launch the SS Deke Slayton

[spuwho]

Orbital will be launching an ISS resupply ship (SS Deke Slayton) from NASA Wallops Island on the coast of Virginia tomorrow evening. Spotters are reporting the launch will be seen across the east coast. Jacksonville may be able to see the second stage as it moves back into the terminator into sunlight but not the actual launch.

Per Spaceflight Insider:

Orbital Sciences readies SS Deke Slayton for resupply run to International Space Station


After minor delays, Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) is set to launch one of the company's Cygnus resupply spacecraft on Monday, Oct. 27 to deliver crew supplies and cargo to the International Space Station's (ISS) Expedition 40. Monday's launch is slated for 6:44 p.m. EDT (1844 GMT), providing only a 15 minute launch window at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) launch site on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Monday's launch will be a joint effort between Orbital Sciences and NASA to conduct the fourth of eight resupply flights in a series of on-going Commercial Resupply Services missions.

With Monday's flight, and including a 2013 Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flight for Cygnus, four of the soda can-shaped spacecraft that have traversed the void to deliver much-needed supplies to the space station.

Through the $1.9 billion agreement that Orbital Sciences has with NASA, the company has become one of two U.S. commercial aerospace firms able to deliver cargo to the astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory. With the contract open for rebidding starting on Nov. 14, the CRS contract will be reopened for bidding.



The upcoming Antares launch was confirmed after a series of minor delays that set the ORB-3 mission back from its original Oct. 20 launch date. The first delay was due to a decision to provide a few extra days for ground and space station pre-launch operations to be completed. Then, due to Hurricane Gonzalo's path through an important Bermuda down-range tracking station, the date was moved to Oct. 27 to accommodate for damage assessment and potential repairs. Luckily, nothing was damaged and after reviewing the Bermuda station, it was confirmed that a Monday launch was still plausible.

"The Wallops range relies on the Bermuda downrange assets to track and maintain data communications with the Antares rocket during flight and ultimately to ensure public safety during launch operations," said Steven Kremer, Chief of the Wallops Range and Mission Management Office.

Earlier in the week, the Cygnus cargo spacecraft was fully fueled, and mated with the Antares 130 launch vehicle. After the initial loading, the remaining time-sensitive cargo was also loaded into the spacecraft in the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) – bringing the payload weight to an estimated 5,000 lbs (2,268 kg).


Monday's launch will be a special one for space history enthusiasts, as Orbital has announced that the Cygnus for this mission will be named for the late NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force pilot, Donald "Deke" K. Slayton.

One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Slayton also flew combat missions over Europe and Japan during World War II as a decorated pilot. The SS Deke Slayton, as the capsule has been named, is Orbital's tribute to the astronaut's leadership and contributions to America's space program. After a long career with NASA, Slayton was named the president of Space Services Inc. of America (SSI), which was the forerunner to commercial spaceflight today. His company became the first to launch a privately-funded rocket into space on Sept. 9, 1982 with the flight of the Conestoga 1 rocket.



Orbital has a history of naming their spacecraft after astronauts and individuals who contributed to the United States' commercial space program. Past Cygnus spacecrafts have been named in honor of Janice E. Voss, C. Gordon Fullerton, and G. David Low, who were all former NASA astronauts. The selection of Slayton is slightly unique, as Slayton, unlike the prior designees, had no professional connection to Orbital.

[spuwho]

So much for the SS Deke Slayton......

Per Seattle Times:

Supply rocket headed to space station explodes

https://www.youtube.com/v/eBscaFt4fs0

An unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff Tuesday evening, with debris falling in flames over the launch site in Virginia. No injuries were reported following the first catastrophic launch in NASA's commercial spaceflight effort.

An unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff Tuesday evening, with debris falling in flames over the launch site in Virginia. No injuries were reported following the first catastrophic launch in NASA's commercial spaceflight effort.

The accident at Orbital Sciences Corp.'s launch complex at Wallops Island was sure to draw criticism over the space agency's growing reliance on private U.S. companies in this post-shuttle effort.

NASA is paying billions of dollars to Orbital Sciences and the SpaceX company to make station deliveries, and it's counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start flying U.S. astronauts to the orbiting lab as early as 2017. NASA spokesman Rob Navias said there was nothing on the lost flight that was urgently needed by the six people living on the space station.

Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket blew up over the launch complex, just six seconds after the liftoff. The company said everyone at the site had been accounted for, and the damage appeared to be limited to the facilities.

Flames could be seen shooting into the sky as the sun set. There was no hint of any trouble until the rocket exploded. This was the second launch attempt for the mission. Monday evening's try was thwarted by a stray sailboat in the rocket's danger zone. The restrictions are in case of just such an accident that occurred Tuesday.

"We will understand what happened -- hopefully soon -- and we'll get things back on track," Orbital Sciences' executive vice president Frank Culbertson told his team an hour after the failure. "We've all seen this happen in our business before, and we've all seen the teams recover from this, and we will do the same."

The Wallops flight facility is small compared to major NASA centers like those in Florida, California and Texas. Those who work at Wallops Island joke that even people living on Virginia's Eastern Shore are surprised to learn about rocket launches there.

Denise Bowden, a spokeswoman for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, said it looked like a normal launch at first Tuesday. The launch pad on the island is visible from the town about four miles away.

"When it started off, it looked beautiful. A friend of mine was standing behind me -- he works civil service over there with NASA -- and he goes, 'Uh, oh.' To me it looked normal, but he knew something was wrong right away. He said, "It's bad." And then, it just went boom. And then, the explosions that followed."

Culbertson advised people not to touch any rocket debris that might wash ashore or that came down on their property because hazardous materials were aboard.

Right afterward, the roomful of engineers and technicians were ordered to maintain all computer data for the ensuing investigation. Culbertson advised his staff not to talk to news reporters and to refrain from speculating among themselves.

"Definitely do not talk outside of our family," said Culbertson, a former astronaut who once served on the space station.

It was the fourth Cygnus bound for the orbiting lab; the first flew just over a year ago. SpaceX is scheduled to launch another Dragon supply ship from Cape Canaveral in December.

The Cygnus cargo ship Tuesday had held 5,000 pounds of experiments and equipment. By coincidence, the Russian Space Agency was proceeding with its own supply run on Wednesday, planned well before the U.S. mishap.

All the scientists and students behind the science experiments aboard the Cygnus were surely devastated. About one-third of the capsule's contents involved research. Among the instruments that were lost: a meteor tracker and 32 mini research satellites, along with numerous experiments compiled by schoolchildren.

The two Americans, three Russians and one German on the orbiting lab were informed promptly of the accident.

Until Tuesday, all of the supply missions by the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences and California-based SpaceX had been near-flawless.

President Barack Obama has long championed this commercial effort, urging that NASA focus its human spaceflight effort less on nearby orbit and more on destinations like asteroids and Mars. He was in Wisconsin for a campaign rally Tuesday evening and was kept abreast of the accident.

SpaceX's billionaire founder and chief officer Elon Musk -- whose company is the face, in many ways, of the commercial effort -- said he was sorry to learn about the failure. "Hope they recover soon," he said in a tweet.

Support poured in from elsewhere in the space community late Tuesday night.

"Very sorry to see the Antares rocket launch failure," said Chris Hadfield, a former Canadian astronaut who served as space station commander last year. "Spaceflight is hard. Very glad that no one was hurt."

John Logdson, former space policy director at George Washington University, said it was unlikely to be a major setback to NASA's commercial space plans. But he noted it could derail Orbital Sciences for a while given the company has just one launch pad and the accident occurred right above it.

The explosion hit Orbital Science's stock, which fell more than 15 percent in after-hours trading.

[BridgeTroll]

Cecil is a spaceport... 

[spuwho]

Per Aviation Week:

Daylight Reveals Post-Antares Damage At Wallops



NASA's Wallops Incident Response Team has reported on its initial assessment following the catastrophic failure of Orbital Science's Antares rocket shortly after liftoff on Oct. 28, from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The report, backed up by the clearly visible damage seen in this aerial view, shows damage to the transporter erector launcher and lightning suppression rods, as well as debris around the pad. It also reveals a large water-filled crater (just visible above the right hand end of the large white storage tank) where the main impact occurred as the vehicle fell back to earth and exploded. The lighter scorched area close to the crater is thought to be the remnants of the burned solid propellant from the vehicle's upper stage. NASA adds that "a number of support buildings in the immediate area have broken windows and imploded doors. A sounding rocket launcher adjacent to the pad, and buildings nearest the pad, suffered the most severe damage."

The agency adds that preliminary observations are that the environmental effects of the launch failure were largely contained within the southern third of Wallops Island.

[Ernest Street]

Sad to see this Happen to OS..but every Rocket Launch whether liquid or solid is a dice roll.. ...