Posted: Mon, Apr 22, 2013, 7:28 AM ET (1128 GMT)
Orbital Sciences Corporation's newest and biggest rocket lifted off Sunday on its first launch, successfully placing a demonstration payload and several small satellites into orbit. The Antares rocket lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island, Virginia, at 5:00 pm EDT (2100 GMT). The rocket placed a Cygnus payload simulator and four smallsats into orbit about 10 minutes later. Orbital and NASA officials said the launch went as planned, with no issues reported during the ascent to orbit. Two previous launch attempts, on April 17 and 20, were scrubbed by a technical problem and high upper-level winds, respectively. Orbital developed Antares as part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA, which also included the Cygnus spacecraft that will ferry cargo to the International Space Station. The next Antares launch, planned for the summer, will send a Cygnus spacecraft to the station on a test flight.
