Antares 230

Taurus II

Mission Profile

The Antares 230 is a two-stage medium-lift rocket developed by Northrop Grumman, representing the first major operational upgrade to the Antares family after the 2014 launch failure prompted a switch from the troubled AJ-26 engines to the more reliable Russian RD-181. Standing 42.5 m tall with a 3.9 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 298 tonnes, it generates 3,845 kN of liftoff thrust and can deliver 6,600 kg to low Earth orbit. Since its first flight in October 2016 under the NASA CRS program, the Antares 230 has reliably resupplied the International Space Station carrying Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo spacecraft.