Summary of Antares First Stage Development Test

摘要

Antares is a two-stage launch vehicle designed to provide responsive, cost-effective, and reliable access to orbit and Earth escape for medium-class payloads weighing over 5,000 kg. This vehicle features a combination of heritage and newly designed systems including a new kerosene and liquid oxygen operated first stage. Prior to Antares' maiden voyage on April 21st, 2013, the vehicle's first stage underwent extensive system level testing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) located on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Successful completion of the integrated first stage development testing served as the basis for that system's qualification, and also satisfied a critical first-launch constraint. This paper describes the initial test plan and test objectives, test article configuration, and qualitative results of the test activity.