Antares Rocket Successfully Passes Engine Test

Antares rocket, developed by NASA's commercial partner Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., has successfully passed an important engine test at the country's newest launch pad.

The rocket's dual AJ26 engines were fired for approximately 30 seconds on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. The test was aimed at checking the readiness of the rocket's first stage and launch pad fueling systems to support upcoming test flights, announced NASA.

Antares is a new commercial rocket developed by the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences company to launch unmanned cargo resupply missions to the international space station, a research laboratory orbiting 250 miles above Earth.

After the retirement of NASA's space shuttles more than one year ago, the U.S. space agency signed billion-dollar deals with private companies to send cargo missions, and carry food supplies and equipments needed for research work aboard the space station.

NASA has a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with Orbital Sciences. The company will make at least eight missions to the space station using its Antares rocket and robotic Cygnus spacecraft. The first Antares rocket test flight is expected later this year, according to Space.com.

Another private company called Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly at least 12 commercial resupply missions to the space station. SpaceX launched a test flight and a delivery mission to the space station in 2012. The company's second cargo resupply mission is scheduled to be launched March 1.

"A little more than one year after the retirement of the space shuttle, we had a U.S company resupplying the space station, and another is now taking the next critical steps to launch from America's newest gateway to low-Earth Orbit. Today marks significant progress for Orbital, MARS and the NASA team," Phil McAlister, director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.