Posted on 09/18/2013 4:39:29 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Rocket: Antares
Payload: Cygnus
Launch date: September 18, 2013
Launch time: 10:50 a.m. EDT/7:50 a.m. PDT (1450 GMT)
Launch window: 15 minutes
Launch site: Pad 0A, Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Islands, VA
ISS capture: Sept 22 @ 1117 GMT
ISS departure: TBD
0745 GMT (3:45 a.m. EDT) The countdown began on time to begin final preps for this morning's 10:50 a.m. EDT blastoff of the 13-story Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Follow activities with this countdowntimeline.
The mission will be the second launch of the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket after a successful test launch in April proved the two-stage rocket could deliver payloads into low Earth orbit.
Mike Pinkston, the Antares program director at Orbital, said engineers made very few changes to the design of the launch vehicle after the April mission.
The rocket's solid-fueled upper stage, provided by ATK, provided a bit less performance than anticipated, Pinkston said, adding it is difficult for engineers to predict how a solid rocket motor will perform in flight before testing it in the environment.
Pinkston said software engineers tweaked code in the Antares guidance computer to account for the performance data obtained in the April test flight.
Technicians also modified some of the umbilical connections between the Antares rocket and its Transporter/Erector/Launcher system, which services as a support tower during the countdown.
What flight path will it take?
According to this Wiki...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_1
the orbital inclination is 51.6 degrees. This is the same as the ISS which is where the payload is headed.
If you look at this website that tracks satellites
you’ll see the ISS. When it passes over the launch site it’ll be headed in a northeasterly direction.
liftoff
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