On September 18, 2013, at 17:50 Kiev time, the new launch vehicle Antares was successfully launched from Wallops Flight Facility (USA). The LV prime developer is Orbital Science Corporation (USA).

Antares launch vehicle injected into orbit Cygnus cargo spaceship that must deliver to the International Space Station (ISS) approximately 700 kg cargo, including food and clothing for the ISS crew.

For September 20 morning, the operations of Cygnus cargo spaceship rendezvous and docking to the ISS at the altitude of about 415 km above the Earth are planned.

That was the second launch of new launch vehicle Antares. The first demonstration launch was made on April 22 this year. Antares LV is intended, in the first place, for cargo delivery to ISS and for launching commercial and governmental spacecraft.

The Antares LV first stage core structure was developed by Yuzhnoye State Design Office, manufactured by Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant in cooperation with Ukrainian companies: Hartron-Arkos (Kharkov), Kievpribor (Kiev), Hartron-UKOM (Zaporozh’e), CHEZARA, RAPID (Chernigov) et al. The Ukrainian specialists participated in the pre-launch processing and launching.

Public Relations Center Yuzhnoye SDO