Antares Set To Launch From Virginia On Sunday!

Written By: Josh G for Onkla

On Sunday, the Antares 230+ vehicle is set to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Fulton, Virginia. The Antares vehicle will carry the Cygnus cargo resupply vehicle to a low earth orbit (LEO), where it will then dock to the International Space Station in the coming days.

The Antares rocket is set to launch from Launch Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Wallops Island, Virginia, at 5:50am EST. on Sunday, November 6. This mission has been named CRS NG-18. CRS stands for "Commercial Resupply Service," and NG-18 stands for "Northrup Grumman 18." Around 5,500 pounds of cargo, research and supplies will be launched in Cygnus to the Space Station.

Photo: NewsWire // Shot 2.11 Miles Away at the Press Site // NG-11 Mission

This will be the second to last Antares 230+ launch ever, with the vehicle to be replaced by the Antares 330 vehicle. The Antares 230+ featured a first stage that is manufactured in Ukraine. The first stage runs on RP-1 and LOx which are fed into the two RD-181 engines. These main engines will burn for the first three minutes of flight until main engine cutoff. The stages will separate, the two fairing halves will separate aswell, and the second stage will ignite. The second stage, Castor 30XL solid fueled rocket motor will burn for around two and a half minutes to get the vehicle into orbit.

TIMELINE

T- 12 Hours

The vehicle will be raised into its upright, or vertical position on Launch Pad 0A at Wallops. This is where all of the pre-launch checkouts begin to occur.

T- 40 Minutes

The vehicle begins fueling the two tanks on the first stage of Antares with RP-1 Kerosene, and LOx. This process lasts up until a few minutes before launch.

T- 35 Minutes

The T.E. or "Strongback" will begin to retract away from Antares. (retraction is around 2 degrees)

T- 1 Minute 30 Seconds

Vent Closeout occurs which is where the propellant load is complete, so the boil off sequence is also completed. This is visually shown by when the vent on the T.E. no longer is visible.

T- 1 Minute

The vehicle enters internal power prior to liftoff.

T- 2 Seconds

The ignition sequence begins. The RD-181 engine ignites, and begins to ramp up to full thrust.

T-/+ 0

Liftoff!

LAUNCH SEQUENCING

T+ 1:08

Max-Q. This is where the stresses on the vehicle are at their maximum. Most vehicles throttle down, however, Antares keeps the RD-181 engine at full thrust.

T+ 3:05

MECO. Main Engine Cutoff is where the first stage will cutoff.

T+ 4:18

Stage 2 ignition occurs. The Castor 30XL upper stage is ignited.

T+ 6:30

SECO. The second stage has completed its burn.

T+ 9:00

Cygnus Separation. The Cygnus spacecraft is now in free flight.