Rocket Launch Will Be Visible From Bermuda

An untested commercial rocket is poised to launch into space from Virginia’s Wallops Island on Wednesday [Apr. 17] and will be visible from Bermuda during its ten minute sub-orbital flight, SPACE.com reports.

The new private Antares rocket, built by the Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp., is slated to blast off from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration [NASA] Wallops Flight Facility at 6 p.m. Bermuda time. If all goes well, the test flight will pave the way for the future unmanned cargo deliveries to the International Space Station.

NASA will broadcast the launch live on NASA TV beginning at 5 p.m. Bermuda time tomorrow. You can watch the Antares rocket launch webcast on SPACE.com, courtesy of NASA.

“The best chance to see the flight extends from about Cape May, New Jersey southward through the Outer Banks of North Carolina,” officials explained in an update. “Also, if you happen to be in Bermuda, you will likely have a clear view of Antares as it rockets by.”

The two-stage Antares rocket is designed to launch a cylindrical unmanned Orbital cargo ship, called Cygnus, on at least eight delivery flights to the International Space Station under a $1.9 billion deal with NASA.

Orbital is one of two companies with a NASA contract for space station cargo deliveries.

The two-stage Antares rocket is 131 feet tall and will launch toward the southeast out over the Atlantic Ocean and towards Bermuda.

The Antares test flight will not carry a Cygnus spacecraft. Instead, it will carry a mock payload, called a “mass simulator,” to mimic a Cygnus.

Orbital Sciences Corp. promotional video on the Antares and the Cygnus spacecraft

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