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The International Space Station received its first shipment from a private, Virginia-based company in more than two years Sunday following a sensational nighttime launch observed 250 miles up and down the East Coast.
Orbital ATK's cargo ship pulled up at the space station bearing 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and research.
"What a beautiful vehicle," said Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who used the station's big robot arm to grab the vessel. The capture occurred as the spacecraft soared 250 miles above Kyrgyzstan; Onishi likened it to the last 195 meters of a marathon.
Last Monday's liftoff from Wallops Island was the first by an Antares rocket since a 2014 launch explosion. Orbital ATK redesigned its Antares rocket and rebuilt the pad. While the Antares was grounded, Virginia-based Orbital ATK kept the NASA supply chain open with deliveries from Cape Canaveral, Florida, using another company's rocket.
NASA is paying Orbital ATK and SpaceX to stock the station, but now SpaceX is grounded. The California company is investigating why one of its Falcon rockets exploded in a massive fireball during launch pad testing on Sept. 1.
(Score: 2) by number6x on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:01PM
Completely off topic, but I first encountered this technique in the Detroit area [michiganhighways.org]. I used to travel there on business once a month. I was stunned at how dangerous it was.
To make a left turn, you had to make a right turn. Then, going in the direction you don't want to go, work your way from the right most lane to the left most lane. You would proceed in the wrong direction until you came to a designated u-turn sign. You could make a u-turn and would finally be pointed in the correct direction, but often having travelled a block or two out of your way!
I'm sure that someone sold this idea as a way to avoid deadly 't-bone' collisions [wikipedia.org]. Sure, side collisions are dangerous, but so is cutting across lanes rapidly and making U-turns (about as dangerous as t-bone turns). I'm guessing that they expected drivers to leisurely make their way from the right to the left lane. And then to patiently wait for the oncoming traffic to clear before making a u-turn. Whoever thought that would happen has never driven in the US.
I figured that since it was Detroit, it was the auto industry influencing local lawmaking to design a system that would ensure the maximum sales of after market parts to the car repair industry, increasing profits for the auto makers.