Antares 230+

Taurus II

Mission Profile

Antares 230+ is the current production variant of Northrop Grumman's Antares medium-lift launch vehicle, replacing the AJ26 first-stage engines with two RD-181 engines from NPO Energomash following the 2014 Antares 130 explosion. Standing 42.5 meters tall with a 298,000 kg liftoff mass and 6,600 kg to LEO, it first flew on 2 November 2019 and has reliably delivered Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station under NASA's CRS-2 contract. Antares 230+ restored American commercial cargo launch capability from Wallops Island following the AJ26 propulsion change.