New private spacecraft was launched to ISS on demo mission.
On September 18 at 10:58 UTC a new privately owned U.S. unmanned spacecraft was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island off the U.S. east coast., Va., USA. The "Cygnus” unmanned supply spacecraft, built by U.S. space firm Orbital Sciences Corp., was orbited by the company's "Аntares” rocket-carrier on a demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
It is the first flight of the "Cygnus”, which carries about 590 kg of various supplies, and the second flight of the "Antares” rocket, which made a successful debut in April.
The goal of the mission is to demonstrate the capability of Orbital's cargo transportation system to deliver cargo to the space station.