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ISS NASA Transportation

Weather Delays Antares Launch From VA Spaceport 22

The Washington Post reports that concerns about high winds have postponed until tomorrow evening the launch of Orbital Science's Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. When the rocket finally launches, it should be a spectacular event for the region: "Clear skies should allow viewing of the 133-foot rocket throughout much of the Mid-Atlantic – including the Washington, D.C. area. Assuming technical issues don’t delay or abort the launch, look southeast and the rocket will be viewable about 10 degrees above the horizon in the Washington area at 5 p.m. 6:10 p.m."
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Weather Delays Antares Launch From VA Spaceport

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  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday April 20, 2013 @05:39PM (#43506423) Journal
    Seriously, OSC has built little to NOTHING of it. All they have done is assemble other ppl work. And most of that, came from overseas. So, here was an opportunity for OSC to not only make a name for themselves, BUT to create a low cost rocket. Now, they have an expensive rocket that launches very little. Within 2 years, SpaceX will likely have a rocket that will take 10 tonnes into orbit for less than 20M, possibly less than 10M. At that point, OSC is done except for satellites.

    The only players that stand a chance will be foreign govs. as well as L-Mart, Boeing, and possibly any Company that buys one of the lunar lander companies.

    Now to hope that NASA will work with not just Bigelow, but IDC on getting them to put up private space stations, and a lunar base.
    • One other useful idea would be for Bigelow and IDC Dover to put their units at the south Pole. After all, that is what will be on the moon.
    • Seriously, OSC has built little to NOTHING of it. All they have done is assemble other ppl work. And most of that, came from overseas.

      Typical fanboi. Protip: This isn't a Google or Apple or MS article.

      If history has proven anything its that affordable reusable components are a good thing.
      The more spacers the better, IMO. I wish them luck.

      • And yet, they would be better off with cheaper in-house designs and builds. That was a lesson of the falcon and merlin, but u and others ignore it. Heck when we did the ISS, Europe/ESA insisted on doing the shells even though USA was much cheaper. Why? To develop an industry. Now that spaced is taking off it shows that we need a true competitive arena in the USA, and not just importing others. As such, ULA, rocketdyne, and other american companies are now focused on bringing things in-house.
    • Well, virtually all such US events are "overrated" in a sense that the equipment is either directly bought from Russia, assembled from Russian components or at least based on Russian designs. This one is no exception. Antares is just another Atlas - an airkit pulled over a Russian main engine. While Russian superiority in this area is undisputed, it's already becoming a commodity. Nothing to write home about.
      • Really? Please tell me what is Russian on the delta 4, SLS, or any of the falcons?
      • BTW, Russia only had superiority in RP/LOX engines and at this time, merlin is challenging that. For nearly all other engines and motors, USA is superior.
    • Like early Tesla, Elon just wants to integrate existing components and be done with it, but later he found out it doesn't work with his ambitions. In OSC's case, I guess they simply don't have such high ambitions, so they just settle for a good business.
      • OSC has been building rockets for over 2 decades and still very little that that own. As such, they will be more expensive and slower to market than anybody else.

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