By KYIV. Nov 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – On Monday, November 7, at 12:32 Kyiv time, the first launch of the Antares medium-class launch vehicle in 2022 took place from the Flight Facility on Wallops Island (the USA), the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine reports.
"The rocket launched the Cygnus automatic cargo transport vehicle carrying 3,729 kg of NASA payload for the International Space Station into orbit," the report notes.
It is noted that the Antares launch vehicle consists of two stages. The main design of the first stage was developed by SOE Pivdenne Design Bureau and manufactured by SOE Production Association Southern (Pivdenny) Machine-Building Plant named after Makarov (Pivdenmash) in cooperation with Ukrainian enterprises Hartron-ARKOS (Kharkiv), Kyivprylad (Kyiv), Hartron-UCOM (Zaporizhia), Chesara Telemetry LLC, RAPID (Chernihiv) and others commissioned by Northrop Grumman Corporation (the United States).
As part of the Antares program, the Ukrainian side completed the entire range of work on the design, development and manufacture of the material part of the main structure of the first stage for the launch vehicle.
The Cygnus spacecraft of the NG-18 mission was named after Sally Ride (1951-2012), the first American female astronaut. Docking with the ISS is scheduled for November 9.
Since 2013, the Antares launch vehicle has launched 17 times, 16 of them successfully.
