Antares family
Antares 230+
Antares known during early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems after Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK) and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's COTS and CRS programs. Able to launch payloads heavier than 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, Antares is the largest rocket operated by Orbital ATK. Antares launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and made its inaugural flight on April 21, 2013.
Antares 230+ is built by Northrop Grumman Space Systems of the United States. Company background, funding, contracts and news for this operator are tracked on Space Index. It first flew on 2 November 2019 and last flew on 2 August 2023.
Flight record
Payload
| Low Earth orbit | 8,200kg |
|---|
Vehicle
| Stages | 3 |
|---|---|
| Length | 42.5m |
| Diameter | 3.9m |
| Launch mass | 286t |
| Liftoff thrust | 3,844kN |
| Maiden flight | 2019-11-02 |
| Reusable | No |
Pads used
Orbits delivered
Launch history
| Date | Mission | Pad | Orbit | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-02 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-19 (S.S. Laurel Clark) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2022-11-07 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-18 (S.S. Sally Ride) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2022-02-19 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-17 (S.S. Piers Sellers) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2021-08-10 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-16 (S.S. Ellison Onizuka) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2021-02-20 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-15 (S.S. Katherine Johnson) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2020-10-03 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-14 (S.S. Kalpana Chawla) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2020-02-15 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-13 (S.S. Robert H. Lawrence.) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
| 2019-11-02 | Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-12 (S.S. Alan Bean) | Launch Area 0 A | Low Earth Orbit | Success |
Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.
Further reading: Wikipedia · Operator page