Antares Rocket Launch
 

Just want to brag a little bit. My daughter and her husband both work for Orbital Sciences and both helped build the Antares rocket. She's got a master's degree in aerospace engineering, he's got a master's in systems engineering and has spent some time on the control boards in Houston for shuttle flights. They were both on site for the launch.

All those trips to Kennedy Space Center when the kids were small has paid off!

That's cool!
Nice pic too!:beerchug:

Cool pic! Thanks for showing us!

The state of VA built "MARS"--the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport. It's really been a boon for Wallops Island and the Eastern Shore area, which historically has only launched sounding and similar rockets--mostly sub-orbital.

I had no idea they launched from VA. Thought it was FL or CA only. Road Trip!:biggrin2:

My understanding is you can get pretty close to these launches from public viewing areas, much closer than you ever could to a shuttle launch. Of course, it's no shuttle in terms of spectacle, but it's still pretty cool.

Here's an interesting factoid: The engines used in the Antares were originally built by Russia for the N-1 Moon Rocket. (which had, I think 30 on the first stage--they never could get them all to ignite at the same time, hence the launch failures). Aerojet bought a bunch of the rocket engines from Russia where they had been in storage after the program was cancelled, and refurb/modified them for use here. Orbital purchased the engines from Aerojet. The Russians could not duplicate the size engines used for the Saturn V rocket, so they were forced to use these much smaller ones, hence the 30 engines. Rocket history lesson concluded.