Orbital taps ULA for rides to ISS

sderrick · Dec 10, 2014

Well, I figured hitching a ride on a Falcon would be too bitter a pill to swallow for Orbital! But then its entirely possible that SpaceX could not meet a promised launch date considering they only made about half of their expected lanches this year.

Private Cargo Spacecraft Gets New Rocket Ride After Accident

doug · Dec 10, 2014

Came here to post the same.

Orbital will use the Atlas V to launch at least one Cygnus to the station in late 2015, with another mission possible, if needed, in 2016 while the company changes out the engines used in the first stage of its Antares rocket. Cygnus will be able to carry 35 percent more cargo during its missions on the Atlas V than it was able to with the first version of Antares, Orbital representatives said.

rabar10 · Dec 10, 2014

From the Antares thread:

rabar10 said:
Guessing they would hitch a couple rides on the Atlas V instead -- it has a long-established track record of reliability at a time when Orbital needs exactly that, and it draws fewer direct comparisons between SpaceX and themselves.

...yep

doug · Dec 10, 2014

Irony is ULA kept them from getting the engine they wanted to use (which probably wouldn't have failed), and now they will launch with that very engine.

gg_got_a_tesla · Dec 10, 2014

doug said:
Irony is ULA kept them from getting the engine they wanted to use (which probably wouldn't have failed), and now they will launch with that very engine.

Would ULA be fleecing them now given that Orbital's probably desperate?!

freds · Dec 11, 2014

The ULA boosters will probably come out of the stream of committed boosters for the air force so the they can oh we opened up two more launches for competition, so they can say we are not so bad after all!!!

Grendal · Dec 11, 2014

There probably won't be any profit to be had for going with ULA but the cargo will still get to the ISS. You can bet NASA was playing hardball with Orbital.

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Orbital taps ULA for rides to ISS

sderrick

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doug

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rabar10

Model 3 >> Focus Electric

doug

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gg_got_a_tesla

Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913

freds

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Grendal

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