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January 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda While most attention has been directed at SpaceX and its Dragon space capsule, due to make a test flight to the International Space Station next month, Orbital Sciences also has a commercial cargo carrier, called Cygnus, being made ready.
What is the Cygnus?
The Cygnus, according to the Orbital Sciences page on the space craft, consists of a service module and a cargo module. It is designed to be launched on an Orbital Sciences Taurus II launch vehicle, recently renamed Antares. The service module, which will have two solar arrays, will propel the Cygnus to the ISS with thrusters until it is close enough to be grabbed by the remote manipulator arm and then berthed. The Cygnus will have the ability to take 2,000 kilograms of cargo to the ISS.
What is the Antares?
The Antares, is a medium lift two stage launcher capable of delivering up to 5750 kg to low Earth orbit. Though it is being developed for the delivery of the Cygnus, Orbital contemplates using it for a variety of small and medium class payloads.
What is the flight test schedule for the Cygnus?
Currently the Antares launcher will conduct a test flight later in the first quarter of 2012. A flight test of the Cygnus is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2012. Should that flight test prove successful, Orbital contemplates two regular cargo servicing missions to take place in the remainder of the year. There will be a total of ten flights of the Antares, including eight cargo resupply flights, through 2015 according to a contract Orbital has with NASA.
How did Orbital Sciences participation in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program come about?
When one of the original participants in the COTS program, Rocket Plane/Kistler failed to make a number of financial milestones, NASA terminated its contract with that company and switched to Orbital Sciences. Orbital, unlike SpaceX, had been launching payloads into space for decades, having been founded in the early 1980s. Orbital has been using a variety of launch vehicles, including the Pegasus air launched rocket and the Minotaur and Taurus ground launched rockets, to boost a variety of payloads into space for a number of both government and commercial customers.
Orbital has also served as a contractor for both NASA’s human space flight program and a number of missile defense efforts by the military. It proposed a vehicle for NASA’s commercial crew program, but it was rejected by the space agency.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the LA Times, and The Weekly Standard.
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