Investigations into October Launch Accidents Entering Final Phases

摘要

Separate investigations into two high-profile commercial launch accidents six months ago are entering their final phases and will be completed in the next few months or, in some cases, weeks. George Nield, head of the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, said April 21 that he expected to soon receive a report on the Oct. 28 failure of an Orbital ATK Antares rocket launched from Wallops Island, Virginia. "We expect to get their final report on that incident in the next several weeks," Nield said at a meeting of the National Research Council's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (AESB) here. He added the focus of the investigation remains on the AJ-26 engines used on the Antares first stage.