Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket lifts off from the NASA facility on Wallops Island, Va., Sunday, April 21, 2013. The rocket will eventually deliver supplies to the International Space Station.ATLANTIC, Va. – A company contracted by NASA to deliver supplies to the International Space Station successfully launched a rocket on Sunday in a test of its ability to send a cargo ship aloft.
About 10 minutes after the launch from Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles declared the test a success after observing a practice payload reach orbit and safely separate from the rocket.
The Sunday launch comes after two previous attempts were scrubbed. A data cord that was connected to the rocket’s second stage came loose just minutes before the rocket was set to lift off Friday, and company officials said they were easily able to fix the problem. A second attempt Saturday was scrubbed because of wind.
The company from the Washington suburb of Dulles was one of two, along with California-based competitor SpaceX, chosen to supply the space station after NASA ended its three-decade-old shuttle program in 2011. The space agency turned to private companies for the job, saying it would focus on getting manned flights to asteroids and to Mars.
SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion contract by NASA in 2006 to make a dozen missions to restock the space station. Orbital got into the mix in 2008 when it was awarded a $1.9 billion contract for eight deliveries.