Orbital picks Wallops for Taurus 2 launches
Posted: Tue, Jun 10, 2008, 6:49 AM ET (1049 GMT)
Orbital Sciences Corporation announced Monday that it has selected Wallops Island in Virginia as the launch site for its planned Taurus 2 launch vehicle, picking it over Cape Canaveral. The Taurus 2, a medium-lift vehicle under development to support Orbital's efforts to provide cargo resupply services to the ISS, among other applications, will begin launching in late 2010 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops. Orbital will spend $45 million to develop the launch facilities needed at MARS for the Taurus 2; the effort will create 125 new jobs in the area. Virginia and Florida had been competing for the Taurus 2 since February, when Orbital announced that it planned to carry out initial test flights of the Taurus 2 from MARS but had not chosen a site for future missions. The decision is a blow to Florida, which has sought to attract new vehicles to Cape Canaveral and soften the economic blow of the impending retirement of the space shuttle.
Orbital Sciences Corporation announced Monday that it has selected Wallops Island in Virginia as the launch site for its planned Taurus 2 launch vehicle, picking it over Cape Canaveral. The Taurus 2, a medium-lift vehicle under development to support Orbital's efforts to provide cargo resupply services to the ISS, among other applications, will begin launching in late 2010 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops. Orbital will spend $45 million to develop the launch facilities needed at MARS for the Taurus 2; the effort will create 125 new jobs in the area. Virginia and Florida had been competing for the Taurus 2 since February, when Orbital announced that it planned to carry out initial test flights of the Taurus 2 from MARS but had not chosen a site for future missions. The decision is a blow to Florida, which has sought to attract new vehicles to Cape Canaveral and soften the economic blow of the impending retirement of the space shuttle.
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