NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

Update: The revamped Antares rocket made what appeared to be a nominal flight to orbit Monday night, sending the Cygnus supply ship on its way toward a rendezvous with the International Space Station Sunday. It was a very good evening for Orbital ATK.

Original story: This is a busy week for rocket launches, with crewed launches of China's Shenzhou 11 mission Sunday night, and Russia's Soyuz flight to the International Space Station on Wednesday morning. But perhaps the most intriguing launch this week will not carry any people at all.

That's because, when Orbital ATK’s revamped Antares rocket takes flight from the Virginia coast as early as Monday night, the stakes will be high both for the company and NASA. The last time Orbital's Antares launched, its flight ended in a spectacular conflagration just above the launch pad. And with NASA’s other US-based provider of supplies to the space station, SpaceX, currently standing down while it investigates its own accident, astronauts need the food and water launching Monday.

After Sunday's launch attempt was scrubbed due to an issue with a ground support cable, Monday's Liftoff is scheduled for 7:40pm ET tonight (12:40am UK) from Wallops Island. The Antares rocket will boost the Cygnus spacecraft, which is laden with 2,209kg of food, water, science experiments and hardware, into orbit. After spending a month docked to the station, during which astronauts will first unload the supplies and then fill Cygnus back up again, the spacecraft will depart with about 1,500kg of trash and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

A fiery end

An investigation into the October, 2014, accident found that one of the Antares rocket’s two engines experienced a turbopump failure. These engines were the subject of some controversy, as the original Antares used modified Russian NK-33 engines, which were built in the 1970s as part of a Russian lunar program. The old engines were refurbished by Aerojet for Orbital ATK, and prior to the launch pad catastrophe one had actually exploded during a test firing in May, 2014. For this reason, even before the accident, Orbital had sought a replacement for the NK-33.

For the revamped Antares rocket, Orbital ATK has turned to another Russian engine, the RD-181. This engine is slightly more powerful than the NK-33 engine, and also has the benefit of being both of modern design and manufacturing. This increased performance has allowed the Antares rocket to fly an additional 1,000kg of payload to orbit.

If Monday’s launch goes as planned, the Cygnus spacecraft will make its sixth trip to the space station. Three launches have come aboard the Antares rocket and, since the 2014 crash, Orbital has flown two spacecraft on United Launch Alliance’s reliable Atlas V booster. NASA TV coverage of the launch begins at 6:45pm ET.

NASA has remained a steady partner through Orbital’s difficulties. The space agency worked with the company to investigate the accident, and has helped it transition to the new Antares booster. In addition last January, when the space agency awarded a second round of cargo contracts to supply the station from 2019 through 2024, Orbital was a winning bidder along with SpaceX and a new provider, Sierra Nevada. Those awards were worth as much as $14 billion, in total. With its new booster making its maiden flight tonight, Orbital ATK now has a chance to show it is worthy of NASA's trust.

Listing image by NASA