Antares takeoff scrubbed at Wallops; NASA blames aircraft in launch zone

Jeremy Cox
The Daily Times

Dawn broke clear and brisk Saturday over Wallops Island — perfect weather for a rocket launch.

Final checks showed that the Antares rocket was ready to go.

And then it didn't. 

With the countdown ticking down below two minutes, NASA's range watchers suddenly noticed a blip on their radar screen. A small airplane had popped up as if out of nowhere in the middle of the offshore restricted area. 

“At that point, they figured there was no way to get it out of the the hazard area in time," said Kurt Eberly of Orbital ATK, the commercial aerospace company that flies the supply runs to the International Space Station.

There wasn't enough time within the five-minute launch window to stop and start again, he said. So, the decision came down to scrub the launch and try again Sunday at 7:14 a.m.

Spectators wait near their cameras for the Antares launch to begin at Wallops Flight Facility Visitor's Center on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.

Last-minute halts aren't uncommon in the persnickety world of rocketry. Wallops Flight Facility launches have been postponed by everything from inclement weather to boats straying into the hazard area.

But an airplane? That kind of impediment hadn't cropped up in at least a decade, a NASA spokesman said.

Hosting its first major mission in more than a year, Wallops attracted the customary crush of visitors. These, given the subfreezing temperatures, were clad in mittens, woolen hats and their heaviest coats.

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Hundreds of people at the visitors center jockeyed for a clear view of the island launch site in the distance to the southeast. When the countdown came and went without the trademark firing of engines and chest-thumping roar, a wave of disappointment seemed to wash over the crowd.

A woman looks through a binocular telescope to get a better view of the Antares rocket at Wallops Flight Facility Visitor's Center on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.

Joe Sunell Jr., who drove overnight from Bel Air, Maryland, to watch the launch, described his feelings by making the "womp womp" sound of a sad trombone.

"It comes with the territory," said Sunell, a veteran viewer of NASA launches. "Science is very fragile." 

Two men use binoculars to view the Antares rocket at Wallops Flight Facility Visitor's Center on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.

Sheila Phillips rose from bed at 2 a.m. and made the trip with a friend from Falls Church to get her prime spot on a blanket. 

"We were very optimistic, and it's so beautiful out right now," she said, adding that the two of them would have to talk about whether to return for Sunday's second try.

Orbital attributed the delay to a "small aircraft" spotted flying at 500 feet about 6 miles offshore.

"We were working no issues until an aircraft flew into restricted airspace," the company said on Twitter. "We are currently de-tanking and will be ready to go (Sunday) morning."

More:For rocket launch project, NASA, Snow Hill Middle students join forces

Eberly said that, contrary to rumor spreading on social media, the aircraft wasn't a commercial flight. It was flying “low and slow so it doesn’t fit the profile of an airliner," he said.

The interior of the rocket is packed to the brim with crew supplies and science experiments weighing a total of 7,400 pounds, the equivalent of three Toyota Carollas. If Sunday's launch is successful, the rocket's Cygnus capsule is expected to reach the space station Tuesday.

A large crowd gathers at Wallops Flight Facility Visitor's Center for the launch of an Antares Rocket on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.

It was cold Saturday even by the standards of rocket science. The launch time temperature was forecast to be 25-30 degrees. If it had fallen to 20 degrees or cooler, engineers may have considered postponing the liftoff to head off the risk of any hardware freezing, Eberly said during a Friday press conference.

Little did they know they would be pushing back the launch anyway.

Sunday's weather forecast suggests a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions for liftoff, NASA officials said. It should be warmer but not by much; the National Weather Service is calling for temperatures in the upper 30s around 7 a.m.

Once again, there will be a five-minute window for takeoff.

If it does get off the ground, the spacecraft should be visible from Connecticut to the Carolinas, according to Orbital's calculations.

If Orbital's last Wallops launch in October 2016 marked a litany of firsts, Saturday-turned-Sunday's is checking off a series of seconds: the second use for Orbital’s RD-181 engines, the second flight since the program’s resurrection in the wake of an October 2014 rocket explosion, the company’s second launch of the year (the other taking place at Florida’s Cape Canaveral).

When it happens, the launch will be Orbital’s eighth under its NASA contract, originally valued at $1.9 billion. And it may go down as one of the last to bear the familiar Orbital logo.

Two women attempt to stay warm while they await the launch of an Antares rocket launch at Wallops Flight Facility Visitor's Center on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017.

In September, competitor Northrup Grumman announced plans to buy Orbital for $7.8 billion.  

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