Antares launches from Virginia
Update, Oct. 17, 7:53 p.m.: Antares launched at the end of its 5-minute window and reached orbit about 9 minutes later.
Launch coverage: Watch the Antares launch live
Update: Sunday's planned launch of an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia has been postponed to 7:40 p.m. EDT Monday, Oct. 17. A ground support equipment cable did not perform as expected during a pre-launch check.
Watch live: Antares rocket delivers cargo to ISS
For the first time in two years, an Antares rocket is poised to blast off from Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Orbital ATK is targeting an 8:03 p.m. Sunday return to flight of the redesigned rocket, now powered by a pair of Russian RD-181 main engines.
Atop the rocket is an unmanned Cygnus cargo module carrying nearly 5,300 pounds of food, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station.
The last time an Antares lifted off from Wallops Island, on Oct. 28, 2014, its flight was short-lived.
The rocket rose briefly, then fell back to the ground with a tremendous explosion after a failure by decades-old Russian engines that had been refurbished.
Since then, Orbital ATK launched two Cygnus mission's from Cape Canaveral on United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket. The stakes are high again because SpaceX, NASA’s other commercial launcher of station cargo, is investigating a Falcon 9 rocket’s Sept. 1 launch pad explosion, and it’s unclear how soon it will fly again.
The Antares launch was delayed a few days when Hurricane Nicole threatened a Bermuda tracking station, which suffered only minor damage.
Watch live NASA TV coverage starting at 7 p.m.
Blue Origin's New Shepard completes in-flight escape
History Center honors Sands
A history center outside Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has been renamed in honor of the man who helped establish it.
The late Maj. Gen. Harry James Sands Jr. first proposed a space history museum at the Cape in 1961.
“He envisioned a facility accessible to the public that would provide them the opportunity to learn our space history,” the 45th Space Wing said in a press release.
Sands became founding chairman of the Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation before his death in 1993.
The Air Force Space and Missile History Center, an extension of the museum, opened to the public in 2010 outside the Air Force Station’s south security gate near Port Canaveral.
The foundation and the 45th Space Wing on Friday morning hosted a ceremony at the center to officially rename it the Sands Space History Center.
Hurricane Matthew at KSC: Millions in damages
WGS-8 delivered
The Air Force last week delivered a military communications satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for launch late this year.
The eighth Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft, or WGS-8, will add to a constellation the Air Force says serves as the backbone of the military's global satellite communications. Launch is targeted for December on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket.
The Boeing-built satellite joined a missile warning satellite already at the Cape that made it through Hurricane Matthew safely and is awaiting a launch early next year.
ULA is still finalizing dates for its next two missions, both on Atlas V rockets. The commercial WorldView-4 imaging satellite could launch late this month or in early November, after delays due to wild fires that closed the Western Range. Launch of the GOES-R next-generation national weather satellite, previously scheduled for Nov. 4 from Cape Canaveral, is expected to slip a bit after Hurricane Matthew delayed delivery of the mission's Atlas booster, now at Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX unveils ambitious plan to settle Mars
Moses for president
A former familiar face at Kennedy Space Center has been promoted to the role of president of space tourism company Virgin Galactic, where he’ll oversee the human spaceflight program.
Mike Moses served as the shuttle launch integration manager from 2008 through the program’s retirement in 2011, leading shuttles’ preparations for flight for the final dozen missions. He joined Virgin Galactic in 2011 as vice president of operations.
“I’ve been very fortunate in my career to play a part in safely sending many NASA astronauts to space,” Moses said in a press release. “At Virgin Galactic, with our great vehicles and our fantastic team, I know we’ll get the chance to send not just tens but hundreds and thousands of people into space.”
Virgin Galactic has begun testing of a new SpaceShipTwo after one was destroyed during a rocket-powered test flight on Halloween in 2014 that killed the co-pilot and injured the pilot.
Flying from Spaceport American in New Mexico, the company hopes to become the first commercial spaceline carrying up to six passengers paying $250,000 per ticket for suborbital flights offering minutes of microgravity.
ULA competes with SpaceX for GPS satellite launch
Pioneers celebrate Golden Anniversary
Seats are still available for the Missile, Space and Range Pioneers’ 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, Oct. 21, at the Courtyard by Marriott in Cocoa Beach.
Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana and Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise will headline a panel of astronauts speaking at an evening banquet themed, “Space Pioneers: Past, Present, and Future.”
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with dinner served at 7 pm. Tickets are $45 for members, $60 for non-members and $35 for students and active military. Visit www.missileers.org for more information.
Celebrate Space
Sample alien fingers, goblin dip and stuffed eyeballs on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Celebrate Space, the National Space Club Florida Committee’s annual Halloween-themed bash beneath Space Shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
All adults are welcome to experience the food, desserts, music, dancing and, the club says, a few scary surprises. Costumes are optional for the party starting at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $35 per person or $60 per couple. Visit www.nscfl.org for tickets and information.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.