Thu, Sep 01, 2011
Company Secures Required Authorization To Conduct Launch To ISS
After Extensive Technical And Management Review
The FAA has granted a Commercial Space Transportation Launch
License to Orbital Sciences Corporation to conduct the Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program demonstration
mission in early 2012. An expanded license covering the test flight
of the company’s Taurus II rocket in late 2011 is expected to
be granted in the near future.
Cygnus Cargo Module
To secure the license, Orbital was
required to submit extensive technical and program management data
to the FAA about its Taurus II rocket and Cygnus spacecraft to
ensure that all necessary operational requirements and safety
precautions are met. Among the many items reviewed by the FAA were
the rocket’s planned trajectory, ground tracking procedures,
onboard safety and flight termination systems, and the experience
and training of the launch operations team.
“We are very pleased to have been granted the Commercial
Space Transportation Launch License by the FAA well in advance of
our scheduled launch date in early 2012,” said Mr. Brent
Collins, Orbital’s Senior Vice President and Taurus II
Program Manager. “While we are very knowledgeable of the FAA
licensing process because of our extensive experience with Pegasus
and Taurus space launch vehicles, securing the FAA’s approval
for a new rocket system is always challenging because of the rigor
of their oversight. We feel this is a great vote of confidence in
our launch vehicle design, the robustness of its subsystems, the
thoroughness of our processes, and the training and operational
experience of our launch team.”
For the COTS demonstration mission, Orbital will launch a Taurus II
rocket carrying an operational Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft
that will autonomously rendezvous with and operate in close
proximity to the International Space Station (ISS) until it is
grappled with a robotic arm and berthed to the Station. For the
earlier Taurus II test flight, an instrumented Cygnus simulator
will be onboard to accurately characterize the launch
environment.
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