Antares rocket, co-developed with Ukraine, successfully launched for 17th time

Ukraine’s State Space Agency reported the information. 

The launch took place at 03:31 am Kyiv time from the Wallops Flight Center located on Wallops Island (Virginia, USA). 

The development of the main structure of the first stage of the launch vehicle, as well as part of the ground equipment, was undertaken by the Pivdenne Design Bureau in cooperation with the Southern Machine-Building Plant, both based in Dnipro, Ukraine. Additionally, several Ukrainian companies, namely Kyiv's Kyivprylad, Kharkiv's Hartron-Arkos, Zaporizhzhia's Hartron-Yuk, and Chernihiv's Chezara Telemetria and Rapid, were involved in the project commissioned by the American corporation Northrop Grumman.

"The preparation of Antares launch system, its testing and launch were carried out with the participation of specialists from Pivdenne Design Bureau, Southern Machine-Building Plant and Hartron-Arkos LLC. At the Pivdenne Design Bureau, the company's specialists provided real-time technical support for the launch and fully ensured the implementation of all operations in their sector of responsibility," the statement said. 

In total, since 2013, the Antares launch vehicle has been launched 18 times, 17 of them successfully. The launch that took place today was the last in the current modification of the rocket, created with the participation of Ukrainian enterprises.

"For the next three launches in 2023-2024, Northrop Grumman Corporation has chartered three Falcon 9 rocket vehicles from SpaceX. In the future, Northrop Grumman Corporation, in cooperation with the American company Firefly Aerospace, intends to create an updated version of the Antares 330 rocket, which will help solve the issue of dependence on foreign equipment suppliers," the State Space Agency said. 

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