A catastrophic rocket failure in October is translating into new business for Centennial-based United Launch Alliance.
ULA signed a contract with Orbital Sciences to launch up to two Cygnus supply missions to the International Space Station, the company announced this week.
“We’ll be there as long as Orbital needs us,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno said. “It’s Colorado leading the way again in the commercialization of space.”
Orbital holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to deliver 20 tons of cargo to the space station by 2017.
The last Orbital launch from Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 28, was cut short when the Antares rocket carrying the company’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft exploded shortly after liftoff.
Orbital CEO David Thompson blamed the failure on a refurbished Soviet-era engine on the rocket. The explosion caused Orbital to begin developing a new propulsion system for the Antares rocket and to reach out to other companies for launch services in the meantime.
Bruno is, of course, elated that his company’s Atlas rockets were chosen to do the job. However, he said, there’s a bigger picture here — one that speaks to an effective and efficient partnership between private industry and government.
“We didn’t sit back and wait for NASA to organize some sort of recovery and acquisition strategy and do things the way the government has to do them,” he said. “Industry stepped forward, and we solved this problem in a matter of weeks. We got Cygnus right back in the saddle. That’s what’s really exciting.”
The first Orbital resupply mission aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket will launch late next year from Cape Canaveral, Fla. A second mission, if required, will be in 2016, with the option of more to come, Bruno said.
Orbital and California-based Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, hold National Aeronautics and Space Administration contracts for supply missions to the space station. SpaceX is set to launch Tuesday from Cape Canaveral its fifth resupply mission carrying cargo and several experiments to the space station.
Terms of ULA’s contract with Orbital were not disclosed.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or
