Virginia Spaceport launched final Antares 230+ Rocket Tuesday

Northrop Grumman’s Antares 230+ rocket carrying the Cygnus Spacecraft S.S. Laurel Clark successfully launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on August 1, 2023. The NG-19 mission will deliver more than 8,200 lbs. of research experiments, supplies, and vehicle hardware to the International Space Station (ISS). This launch marks 10 years of Antares rocket launches from MARS, and the last launch of the Antares 230+ rocket. Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman announced a partnership with Firefly Aerospace to design and build the next iteration of the Antares launch vehicle with exclusively U.S.-manufactured parts.

“It’s an honor to have worked with Northrop Grumman and NASA for ISS resupply missions,” said the Virginia Spaceport Authority’s CEO, Ted Mercer. “Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in these missions over the last ten years and thank you for all your hard work to support the astronauts stationed on the ISS.”

The Virginia Spaceport Authority owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. MARS offers three launch pads, an Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Airfield, the newest Payload Processing Facility (PPF) in the United States, and an Integration and Control Facility (ICF) to meet customer needs for launch, range testing, and research. The spaceport is FAA licensed for vertical launches to orbit and conducts business with NASA through a Space Act Agreement and IDIQ contract.

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