![Justice Department reaches deal with company implicated in Taurus launch failures]()
The Justice Department has reached a settlement with the company that provided faulty components that led to the failure of back-to-back Taurus launches for NASA.
![Orbital Picks ‘Antares’ as New Name for Taurus 2]()
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Dec. 12 that it has picked “Antares” as the new moniker for its Taurus 2 rocket, a medium-class booster slated to launch the firm’s unmanned Cygnus spacecraft on space station cargo flights for NASA. The rocket’s first test launch is scheduled for February. Orbital officials also hope the Antares rocket can serve other civilian and military customers as well.
![Taurus 2 To Deploy Nanosatellites in Debut]()
WASHINGTON — The Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus 2 rocket slated to make its maiden launch in early 2012 as part of a NASA-sponsored demonstration program will carry four nanosatellites into space under an agreement with Spaceflight Inc., a Seattle-based company that books rides for secondary payloads.
![Orbital Revises Schedule for Taurus 2 and Cygnus Debuts]()
PARIS — Satellite and rocket builder Orbital Sciences said Oct. 20 the inaugural launch of its Taurus 2 rocket and the vehicle’s delivery of supplies to the international space station have been postponed again, by between two and three months, following delays in making the rocket’s launch base ready for operations.
![With Launch Site Behind Schedule Taurus 2 Facing Two-month Delay]()
PARIS — The inaugural flight of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Taurus 2 rocket will be delayed by about two months, to December, to allow time for the completion and certification of rocket propellant and pressurization facilities at the vehicle’s Wallops Island, Va., launch site, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said July 21.
![Test Stand Fire Threatens Taurus 2 Launch Schedule]()
WASHINGTON — An Aerojet AJ-26 main engine undergoing acceptance testing for the inaugural flight of Orbital Science Corp.’s Taurus 2 rocket was badly damaged June 9 when a metal fuel line ruptured, causing the engine and test stand to catch fire, according to an industry source with knowledge of the mishap.
![Orbital Sciences Eyes West Coast Missions for Taurus 2 Launcher]()
WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp.’s business case for its Taurus 2 rocket, scheduled to debut this year, assumes two or three launches per year for the next decade, with liftoffs occurring from a future West Coast spaceport in addition to the company’s new launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is owned by the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority, on Virginia’s eastern shore.
![Taurus 2 Work Poised To Begin at New Wallops Assembly Facility]()
SEATTLE — Work on Orbital Science Corp.’s Taurus 2 medium-class launch vehicle is ready to get under way at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore following the official opening of a new rocket assembly facility there.
![Taurus XL Failure Investigation Could Delay TacSat-4 Launch]()
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department this month shipped an experimental satellite communications payload and its spacecraft platform to the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, where they were mated in preparation for launch as early as May 5, a Navy official said March 14.
NASA said March 9 it had selected the members of the board that will investigate the Taurus XL launch failure that destroyed the agency’s Glory climate observing satellite.
![Taurus Rocket Fairing Glitch Dooms NASA’s Glory Mission]()
WASHINGTON — NASA’s $424 million Glory climate observation satellite was lost in a March 4 launch attempt from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., after the shroud designed to protect the spacecraft during its climb to orbit atop a Taurus XL rocket failed to separate, agency officials said.
![NASA Funds Keep August Debut of Orbital’s Taurus 2 on Track]()
PARIS — Satellite and rocket manufacturer Orbital Sciences on Feb. 17 said it has begun receiving cash from NASA to prepare for an inaugural flight of the Taurus 2 rocket, now set for August, to prove the vehicle’s operational status in advance of a flight carrying the company’s Cygnus cargo capsule.
![Orbital’s Taurus 2 Engine Test Fired At NASA Stennis]()
The liquid-fueled AJ-26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Taurus 2 rocket was test fired Nov. 10 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., Orbital and NASA announced.
![Orbital Likely To Use COTS Funding Boost To Augment Taurus 2 Rocket Tests]()
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — If congress approves NASA’s plan to add $300 million to its 2011 budget to develop commercial cargo delivery systems for the international space station, Orbital Sciences Corp. Likely would use its share of the funding to augment ground testing of its planned medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket and possibly conduct an additional test flight of the vehicle, according to David W. Thompson, Orbital’s chairman and chief executive.
AlliantTechsystems (ATK) and the U.S. Air Force successfully test fired for the first time the new Castor 30 upper-stage solid-rocket motor that will be used on the Taurus 2 rocket being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., according to a Dec. 10 ATK press release.
