[SatNew] Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) has successfully mated its Cygnus™ cargo logistics spacecraft to its Antares™ rocket today in preparation for its September 17 launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.
Photo is courtesy of Dan Wiles/Orbital Sciences Corporation.
This upcoming demonstration flight is the final milestone in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) research and development initiative with NASA. The completion of COTS will allow Orbital to begin regular cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Orbital is under contract for eight CRS missions to the ISS through 2016.