Tag: Wallops Island
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Virginia's Spaceport: a Century-Long Commitment
by James A. Bacon The McAuliffe administration has settled a dispute with Orbital Science Corp. over insurance of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island. Orbital, which is in the business of launching payload into orbit, will reimburse the state for one-third of the $15 million in damages incurred by the spaceport when Orbital’s rocket exploded during lift-off…
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Virginia’s Spaceport: a Century-Long Commitment
by James A. Bacon The McAuliffe administration has settled a dispute with Orbital Science Corp. over insurance of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island. Orbital, which is in the business of launching payload into orbit, will reimburse the state for one-third of the $15 million in damages incurred by the spaceport when Orbital’s rocket exploded during lift-off…
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How Not to Build a Space Program
Barely a month after its successful launch of a robotic spacecraft from the rocket launch facility at Wallops Island — a tremendous P.R. coup for the Virginia-based space program — Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia for $16.5 million to recover cost overruns incurred during construction of the launch pad. Space News…
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The LADEE and the Minotaur
By James A. Bacon The world of space junkies can be divided into three camps: those who think the United States should pursue a Mars first policy, those who think it should pursue a Moon first policy, and the killjoys who think all that human exploration is a waste of money and time. I belong…