Orbital Receives FAA Commercial Space Launch License for COTS Demo Mission

2

Orbital Receives FAA Commercial Space Launch License for Taurus II COTS Demonstration Mission

Artist conception of the Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft approaching the ISS (Credits: Orbital).

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced on August 31 that it has received a Commercial Space Transportation Launch License  from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which authorizes the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program demonstration mission scheduled for early 2012.

“We are very pleased to have been granted the Commercial Space Transportation Launch License by the FAA well in advance of our scheduled launch date in early 2012,” said Mr. Brent Collins, Orbital’s Senior Vice President and Taurus II Program Manager. “While we are very knowledgeable of the FAA licensing process because of our extensive experience with Pegasus and Taurus space launch vehicles, securing the FAA’s approval for a new rocket system is always challenging because of the rigor of their oversight. We feel this is a great vote of confidence in our launch vehicle design, the robustness of its subsystems, the thoroughness of our processes, and the training and operational experience of our launch team.”

You can read the press release on the Orbital website:

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/release.asp?prid=786

Tags

About the author

Andrea Gini

Facebook Email Website

Andrea Gini is a content strategy consultant specialized in companies of the space sector. He is founder of Space Safety Magazine, where he held the position of Editor-in-Chief until March 2015. Between 2011 and 2013 he worked in the European Space Agency in the Independent Safety Office, which overviews the utilization of the International Space Station. He previously worked as Software Developer, IT Consultant, and trainer of Java-related technologies. Andrea holds a BSc and an MSc in computer science from the University of Milano, a Master in Communication of Science from the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste and a MSc in Space Studies from the International Space University.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *