Another successful launch of the Ukrainian-American Antares launch vehicle with cargo for the ISS took place

 

 On February 20, at 7:36 pm Kyiv time (at 12:36 pm North American Eastern Time) from the Space Flight Center on Wallops Island, Virginia, USA, the first Antres launch vehicle was launched in 2021.

Transmitted by the National Industrial Portal with reference to the press service of CB "Southern".

The rocket launched the Cygnus automatic cargo transport spacecraft, which carried about 8,000 pounds (or ~ 3,600 kg) of NASA payload for the International Space Station.

The Antares launch vehicle consists of two stages. The basic design of the first stage was developed by SE Pivdenne and manufactured by VO PMZ in cooperation with Ukrainian enterprises Hartron-ARKOS (Kharkiv), Kyivprilad (Kyiv), Hartron-YUKOM (Zaporizhzhya), CHEZARA »,« RAPID »(Chernihiv) and others. to order of Northrop Grumman Corporation (USA).

Preparation of PH "Antares", its tests and start-up were carried out with the participation of specialists of SE "CB" Southern ", SE" VO PMZ "and NGO" Hartron-ARCOS ". According to the contract, Pivdenne Design Bureau provided real-time technical support for the start-up, reception and processing of telemetry information. Ukrainian specialists have fully ensured the implementation of all operations in their sector of responsibility.

Within the framework of the Antares program, the Ukrainian side performed the entire set of works on the design, testing and manufacture of the material part of the main structure of the first stage for the launch vehicle.

The mission's Cygnus spacecraft is named after NASA mathematician Catherine Johnson.

Cygnus is scheduled to arrive on the ISS on February 22 at 11:40 Kyiv time.

Mission objectives:

    the main task - delivery of provisions and things for the crew, materials for scientific research and removal from the ISS and further disposal in the dense layers of the atmosphere of spent cargo;
    delivery to the ISS of the SBC-2 supercomputer, developed by Hewlett Packard and NASA. It will be used to analyze astronauts' health data, decipher and analyze their DNA directly aboard the ISS, and to analyze the results of observations of polar ice and lightning in the Earth's atmosphere;
    launching a number of cubes and nanosatellites into orbit.

In total, the Antares launch vehicle has been launched 14 times since 2013, 13 of them successfully.

Based on this, the Antares project is a successful example of the participation of Ukrainian space companies in international projects and successful activities in the global space market.