Antares Successfully Launches ISS Re-Supply Cargo Ship

Long-time Slashdot reader PuddleBoy quotes NasaSpaceflight.com: Northrop Grumman Innovation System's Antares rocket has launched the NG-10 Cygnus, named the S.S. John Young, on its way to the International Space Station on Saturday morning from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia... With its second and final flight of 2018 upon it, Antares lofted the S.S. John Young Cygnus up to the International Space Station with 3,268 kg (7,205 lb) of pressurized cargo and 82 kg (181 lb) of unpressurized cargo....

Cygnus is undertaking a two phase to the International Space Station, aligning for close approach to the orbital lab for grapple on Monday morning, 19 November -- just over 48 hours after launch. Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Serena Aunon-Chancellor will grapple Cygnus with the Station robotic arm, known as the SSRMS or the Space Station Remote Manipulator System).
John Young was a pioneering astronaut who died in January at the age of 87 -- 36 years after he became the ninth person to walk on the moon, driving the Lunar Roving Vehicle. He was also the commander on the very first Space Shuttle flight in 1981.

"We're really proud to name it after John Young," said one executive at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, "and we'll work hard to do him proud."

Re:

[cheesybagel]

No, it is not reusable. But it a decent medium lift launcher with more performance than what the Delta II used to have. Unfortunately because the engine comes from Russia and the first stage comes from Ukraine I suspect it will be phased out eventually.

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[cheesybagel]

That's one of the issues you get when you use refurbished 1960s-1970s rocket engines.

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[hey!]

Well, at present they're the only ones who can launch a rocket capable of putting substantially more than a ton of payload into low Earth orbit without using Russian engines.

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[Alwin Barni]

Well, at present they're the only ones who can launch a rocket capable of putting substantially more than a ton of payload into low Earth orbit without using Russian engines.

I assume you're talking about the US only, in which case there's Delta launchers family (all US engines, Delta IV Heavy ~29mT).

Other countries have their own launchers as well, e.g. Europe has Ariane 5 (~20mT to LEO), and Vega (little more then 1mT) without Russian technology (as far as I can tell).

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[110010001000]

Yeah, no, but Musk fanboys think that is true.

1972 is 46 years ago, not 36

[Athanasius]

So fix the summary!

John Young, moonwalker

[93 Escort Wagon]

The linked NASA obit reveals that John Young was a moonwalker. That’s pretty cool - when I was younger, I tried over and over to figure out how MJ did that but never was able to master it.

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[Kjella]

John Young was a pioneering astronaut who died in January at the age of 87 -- 36 years after he became the ninth person to walk on the moon, driving the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

The poor bastard. Imagine having to spend 36 years driving a moon rover. Couldn't NASA get him back to Earth somehow?

I'm more interested in how I could walk to work, driving my car...

Missed Opportunity on Naming

[Kotukunui]

Should have been called the "S.S. John Young's Corned Beef Sandwich" Delivery Vehicle
...or the "S.S. John Young Farting Citrus" Delivery Vehicle.

John Young was too awesome for words.

John Young...

[TheZeitgeist]

...is probably most accomplished space-traveler to date; which means he's most accomplished traveler of all time.

John Young flew Gemini, Apollo, and the Shuttle. No one else has flown on three different space vehicles, and that's not even counting the LEM. John Young piloted the CM on Apollo 10, and walked on the Moon later. No other human being ever has been to the Moon twice and also walked on it except the (also now-late) Gene Cernan. That is a club of 2; the most unbeatable bar-brag story of all time, and it will be years before another person can make that claim. Sad.

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[Snowgen]

John Young flew Gemini, Apollo, and the Shuttle. No one else has flown on three different space vehicles

Didn't Wally Schirra fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo?

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[TheZeitgeist]

Don't think Wally flew on Apollo.

Naming disposable cargo drones?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll never understand why (besides the obvious thinly veiled PR garbage) they started naming disposable cargo drones after famous individuals. "Hey you did amazing things in life, now we're going to slap your name on the side of a tin can shoved full of supplies, slap it on the side of a station for a month, and then shove it full of trash and toss it into the atmosphere, and its to "honor" you".

Was there to watch it go. Beautiful night.

[ScentCone]

It was a gorgeous night for being on Virginia's eastern shore to watch a Wallops launch. Crystal clear sky full of stars, more than a few sizable meteors to amuse us while we waited, and a great view across the water to the pad. Most interesting part of it was the sound. Obviously they don't let anyone up close for these - most of us were miles away ... so, a long delay for the ignition and launch rumble to catch up with us. But the the initial ignition was a very interesting sound. Several of us remarked on how it sounded like an enormous gong being struck, or a huge, deep bell strike.

Don't know enough about how ignition works on Antares, but that was a really unique sound. Then, after that incredibly deep ringing boom, a heartbeat or two, and then the growing roar as the thing got oft the pad. Shortly, we got the familiar crackling on top of the roar, and the rocket was arcing well out over the water and was up to MECO in very short order. Could hear it almost the entire time, even though it was just a faint purr by the time it cut off.

First time I've had the pleasure of watching a launch in person. And this was a pretty modest machine. I can only imagine what it was like to watch a Saturn V go up, or what Space-X's BFR will be like when the time comes. If you've never done this, and can make the logistics work, do it. Nothing else like it.

For reference, we parked along the Queen's Sound boat ramp that juts off of the Chincoteague causeway. Would love to have been closer, but security had every ideal back road in the closer surrounding farmland blocked off for safety. The visitors center was swamped, no parking, long walk in. As it happens, I think we ended up watching from a better spot anyway ... and since it was 36F out, the mosquitoes were asleep and the notorious local sulfur/swamp smell wasn't too awful. What IS that smell? That's definitely what puts the Ass in Assateague Island.

Kudus to NG and NASA for a good launch. That was really something to see.