Orbital Sciences Corporation has announced that the planned launch of its new Antares launch vehicle has been delayed . The first day’s delay was on 16 April occured after a premature separation of launch pad’s umbilical data connection to the Antares upper stage. The planned launch from NASA’s Wallops Island launch pad in Virginia was delayed for a second time after its planned launch on 19 April was shelved by predictions of poor weather conditions. The next launch attempt is to be made on 20 April.
The delay will add to the nerves of Orbital Sciences’ executives. According to the Flightglobal Space Review analytical resource, Maiden flights are notoriously prone to failure with the failure rate of brand new vehicles (those which have at least two or more newly designed stages) exceeding 50%.
