spacetoday.net: Antares return to flight slips to August

Antares return to flight slips to August

Posted: Tue, Jun 21, 2016, 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT)
The return to flight of Orbital ATK's Antares launch vehicle is likely to slip to August. The company said June 16 that it is now planning the launch of a Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS for "the August timeframe," rather than July as previously planned. The company did not indicate if the delay was primarily due to the schedule of other spacecraft visiting the ISS in July or issues uncovered during a static fire test of an Antares first stage at the end of May. The launch will be the first of a new version of the rocket that replaces the AJ26 engine in its first stage with an RD-181.