New Private Rocket Antares: 5 Surprising Facts

A new private rocket is set to launch into space for the first time on April 17, potentially marking a leap forward for American commercial spaceflight.

Orbital Sciences Corp.'s unmanned Antares rocket is slated to blast off from Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) Wednesday, helping pave the way for eventual cargo missions to the International Space Station.

Orbital signed a $1.9 billion deal with NASA to fly eight unmanned supply missions using Antares and the company's robotic Cygnus spacecraft. Cygnus and Antares could be launched together on a demonstration mission to the space station as early as June, company officials say Read more...