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Watch Orbital Sciences’ successful Antares rocket launch

After three aborted attempts due to weather, Orbital Sciences Corporation has now successfully launched their Antares rocket on its first test flight into orbit.

With this successful launch, Orbital Sciences Corporation will soon join another private spaceflight company, SpaceX Corporation, as one of two private spaceflight companies that has signed on with NASA to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft has already made two cargo runs to the ISS, one in October and one in March.

"Today marked a giant step forward for the Antares program, with a fully successful inaugural flight of the largest and most complex rocket the company has ever developed and flown," said Orbital Sciences chairman and CEO David Thompson, according to Spaceflight Now. "With its successful test flight from the MARS pad at Wallops Island, we will now move forward toward completing the full demonstration mission of our system to resupply the International Space Station with essential cargo in just a couple of months."

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Like the SpaceX Dragon, the Cygnus space capsule that the Antares rocket launches into orbit is an unmanned vehicle designed to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. However, unlike Dragon, which is designed as a reusable capsule that will return equipment and cargo back to Earth, the Cygnus capsules are not designed to be reused. Instead, once a capsule has completed its cargo delivery, it will be loaded with garbage and released so that it burns up in the atmosphere.

This launch is not only a first for Orbital Sciences, but it is also the largest rocket launch performed from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia.

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