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Address Bldg. N-134, Wallops Island, VA 23337, United States Similar Wallops Flight Facility, Wright's Seafood Restaurant, Chincote Bay Field Station, Ocean Deli, Hampton Inn & Suites Ch | ||
Orbital antares a one rocket launch mid atlantic regional spaceport wallops island
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, in the Atlantic Ocean just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States.
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Rs h mid atlantic regional spaceport pad 0a virginia commercial space flight authority
Background
In July 2003, Governors Robert Ehrlich of Maryland and Mark Warner of Virginia signed an agreement that directed the Secretary of Commerce and Trade of Virginia and the Secretary of Business and Economic Development of Maryland to form a working group to develop a concept and implementation plan for joint governance, operation, and administration of the commercial spaceport at Wallops Island. The spaceport, then known as the Virginia Space Flight Center, had been developed with a combination of federal, state, and private sector funding by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA).
Facilities
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has two active launch pads. A third was proposed, but never built.
Launch pad 0A (LP-0A) was built for the Conestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995. The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008, and has now been rebuilt for use by the Orbital Sciences Antares. The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch."
Launch pad 0B (LP-0B) became operational in 1999, and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004. It remains active, and is currently used by Minotaur rockets.
A third launch pad at the complex, to be used by HAD rockets, was proposed but never used.
The facility suffered significant damage during the 28 Oct. 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath. The State of Virginia is seeking help from its two US Senators to obtain Federal funding for rebuilding the pad. Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicate the cost should be no more than US$20 million. By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down to US$13 million and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016. On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed.
Launch history
The first rocket to be launched from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport was an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I, at 12:00 GMT on 16 December 2006, with two spacecraft, TacSat-2 for the US Air Force, and GeneSat-1 for NASA.