Antares Hot Fire Test Set for June 25, 2012
10 Jun 2012, 02:58 UTC
The first-stage static test fire of the Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares launch vehicle atop Pad 0-A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia is tentatively scheduled for Monday, June 25, 2012, according to unpublished reports.
The most recent publicly-announced date for the first-state static test fire is within a calendar window of about three (3) weeks before or after July 22, 2012. The newly disclosed date reflects advancement in the launch pad infrastructure to support the test.
The Antares launch Pad 0-A is the first new total-build of a liquid-fueled launch pad in the United States in nearly 40 years. Some of the existing liquid-fueled launch pads at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg in California have undergone partial upgrades and partial renovations whose construction has been not nearly as extensive and complex as what has occurred with building the totally new Launch Pad 0-A.
The Antares test flight under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program is currently scheduled to occur by late August 2012, and the Antares demonstration flight to the ISS is now scheduled for launch in January 2013.
