Ukrainian launch vehicle to be used for flights to the ISS
American company Orbital ATK, the world leader in aerospace and defense industry, has signed an eight-year contract with NASA worth approximately 1.5 billion dollars to provide six commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2019. The flights will use the Ukrainian launch vehicle (LV), Antares. In the framework of the signed contract, Orbital ATK will use the modernized LV Antares for cargo flights to the ISS in addition to using the LV Atlas-5 of the American United Launch Alliance (ULA). The contract also provides an option for additional cargo flights "based on the operational requirements for the ISS" from 2021 to 2024. This was reported by the Patriots of Ukraine news portal with reference to expres.ua.
According to a 2008 contract between NASA and Orbital Science Corporation worth 1.9 billion dollars, the US company was to provide eight regular Antares cargo flights to the ISS through the end of 2016. This is in cooperation with the European Thales Alenia Space truck Cygnus to deliver 20-ton payload. The 2008 long-term (up to 2019) contract with Orbital Science Corporation states that the Ukrainian State Design Office (SDO) Yuzhnoye and the Production Association (PA) Yuzhmash in Dnepropetrovsk would have had to provide the development and manufacturing of the first rocket stage for the LV Antares.
Since 2013, the program carried out three of the eight commercial flights covered by the contract. After the accident with the Antares rocket in October 2014, Orbital decided to replace the AJ-26 rocket engine, which is a modification of the Soviet NK-33 purchased by the US from Russia, with the RD-181 which is produced by the Russian NPO Energomash (a modification of the RD-180-IF). The contract, worth approximately 1 billion dollars, had been signed by the parties in December 2014.
In December 2015, the Cygnus truck, with 3 tons of cargo, was shipped to the ISS using the Atlas-5 rocket, which was launched from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The restart of the launches with the modified Antares and the upgraded rocket engines from the NASA Mid Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island in Virginia, is scheduled for the second half of 2016.
In February 2015, Orbital Sciences Corporation, within the framework of the merge with the American Aerospace and Defense Groups Alliant Techsystems Incorporated, created the joint company, Orbital ATK. The United States are completely abandoning the Russian RD-180 engines, with which the Atlas-5 rockets are equipped. The RD-181 purchases are limited to civilian use. This abandonment is due to the 2014 introduction by Congress of restrictions on trade with Russia as result of the annexation Crimea, as well as Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine. In June, the US Air Force announced a competition for the development of the engines that will substitute the Russian RD-180. The amount of the potential contracts is evaluated at approximately 160 million dollars. The Ukrainian SDO Yuzhnoye, with its new liquid RD-815, took part in the competition.